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From rhe FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers, #M-5 889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


9648 




9649 


Tliursday, January 1st, 1959. 


JOtBMAL OF FRANCOIS MlGNON 


- 1959 - 


Memerandum : 

Here gees my first date line ef the 
ew year. 

1.4 o ca ■■ ' tu<ft si at •• 

The day has been sunny and a little en the ceel 
side but withal pleasant and tenight the stars 
are wenderfully bright. 

* 11 i Ar. j i«' Ooj L *UtA» 

I must cenfess I am a little resentful 
at Celeste and her unending gadding but I reoken 
I'll accept that as inevitable, —the Rerd knews I 
eught ts be accustemed .ts it by new. Had I knewn 
my evening was t» be wasted by her mania te frelic, j 

l. . — .1 J - . . — •> «• ^ U. 1 _ J ■ J J . .. J. T .. 


She and Dee teek efffer -teton a beut IS :30 this neen, bent 
en card playing. At 5:30, tt was decided that 
J. H., Jet and Juanita weuld ge ts Shreuepert 
a nd J. H. suggested Dan Regard, here feritwe days te visit 
his aunt atui grandnether, ge with them. At the 
stere, after supper, he a.sked Pat and ffuanita B. 
te ge sit with Madam R.gard fer a bit, saytng Celeste 
weuld be heme areund 6 but if she sheuld be a little 
1 te, they might call me te stand j# fer them. Ttiey 
called me at 5i45, saying they had te ge te tewn and 
weuld I ceme ever. I weuld. Rut I 
wanted te de an article se I ceuld ga.t Juanita A. te 
help me with it temerrew befere she and Jee left fer heme. 

Madam Regard wanted te watch TV which suived me fine, and 

the deck get te 6:30, and ne news and I wanted te hear 

abeut the^uban revelutien, the- Reckefeller in a uguratien speech, etc. 

but I- realized I ceuld get all that en the 8 e'cleck news. The cl i 
decked mever te 7, then 8, then 9 and aleng 
abeut 9:30 Madam Regard decided' ahe^ wanted ge 
te bed which teek half a heur fer preparatiens and 
by the time I reached Yucca, the 10 e'cleck news was 
ever . Heaven knews then Celeste and Dee will 
make it but I still think they might at least have 
te'lephened te give seme netien ef their intentiens • 

b JiisAo 












From the FRANCOIS WlGNON PAPERS# #M~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


era*- 


9650 



Seim: 


■ »4 .lie* 


3; »i u » 




11 

j i , ewM'. 


While at coffee this morning, the lady dcotor 
telephoned and, learning I uxia there, asked to talk 
with me, *She said she had just learned from 
Mrs. Walker that I had been ailing and asked if 
she might come down to see me, I told her she could 
if on the basis of a social qall but that I had turned 
the corner and needed no professional visitation, I 
t ought it kind of her to telephone, especialy as she 
>• 0 *<tt «* D LKU «v.» -iO»* v^jl) *sAt 

always up to her hips in patients, 

, 3 VIII '■■i ft 3 

1 j30 this afternoon, I had to skip ove 
the big house for a c uple of minutes and on my 
return, was, not too surprise, al though a little, 
to find the-Boqket <*irl and the Lost *ord 
awaiting me at my gate. They had attempted to 
deliver Plantat on Primitive note paper at 
Millspaugh's, and, finding the place closed, 
had come on here to le a ve it. Perhaps they would have 
stopped any way. They were in a hurry to get going on 
their Vacation, — it seems neither has had one in such 

J long time, and it was exactly 5 o'clock when they 
eft, heading for the u ulfCoast. I made the 
most of the opportunity to cover publication 
plane and, naturally, was entranced at having 
the calendar here to demonstrate my points, not 
i only for the flew Orleans flight j ,ut also 

•a oook book, fashioned after the manner of the calendar, 
rl ternating pictures and pages, my suggestion being 
we do a picture, say, of Belle Orove, on one side and oppostir 4 
. a recipe, said to be a favorite of that 

particular plantation, and so throughout the book, with 
, just a dab of Art wok sprinkled around the 

recipe to give it. .contrast and harmony with 
the facing page, Olg Mae liked the idea 
;i •»!-’ and* as ffarolyn is going to "strike" zthe plantations 
n nyway, it ought to, be righ, up her alley, 
if, indeed,- she ever gets a round to it-, 

Sy. \i t\ *•••' i't>4 jlu ;•> ti 

i '* I hhdseveral ideas for magazine articles, 
too, and we went ■over those • 


* 


. a 


J 8. hi 3 0 

'V.*. v 


^ Alii A3” c I 3rill « i 

as I im a prfvskkiyaitsCpy§ttsi 8 mSnUefSfcl($tni»9^gy§saSiSH 
in herendless tomfoolery but at least 07 *,+- w 
have to worry about money and theother gals are'*™ 

~b e jlL ,Lt no-, -t . kr.o ke . and yet un a ble to resist 




£• 






9651 


Friday, January 2nd, 1959, 

; ,v: to A AoiAtt vrieiu *84 • 


Memorandum: 




It seems to me one of my flew Year's resolutioni 
might be to lay off doing s* much beefing of which 
I seem to ihave been engaging in much too 
liberally of late. My impulse in this direction 
is probably because, at the moment, 1 can't 
think o -anything to rant a bout although I shall 
prob a bly come up with something before 1 have gone 
very far in this memo. 

Vs vifclq ?>.Vi boi\ -isvvi eoil ni-uoqe ii* 

The Joe denrys decided to ake off right after 
dinner this noon, heading out for Conroe., with 
Joe planning to head out from there for Wyoming on £ 
But one, least of all Joe, never formulates a plan 
that is carried out on schedule although he may 
head out in any direction at any time without 
previous plans. And so tonigh the Joe denrys 
are still with us, a s •/ 10 p.m., and, if they 
don't vanish between nowand dawning, I suppose 
they may be expected to t ake off between breakfast 
a ll d dinner but that, of course, is anybody's guess. 

I demonstrated remarkably poor sense today by 
knocking off an article for the rimes Picayune 
which isn'li e xpected and may never be used whereas 
a memo that is expected by The^nterprise was left 
unwritten and not even an ilea as to subjeot matter 
has secured to me as yet although I am hoping 
to knock off something before calling it a day so 
I may get it in tomorrow's post. 

A. 1 ' .. A t 5 *4 - . <•' - * - 

This afternoon. Father Ca'lahan honored me with 


r Vi' 


SO.vj 


n 3 


unday. 



f 




From the FRANCOIS WlGNON PAPERS* #11-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


9653 


9653 


Sunday, January 4th , 1959, 


% U . - <. .* \ ■ 'J x 

surprise visit which had nothing by way ef an excuse that 
he merely wanted te wish me a Happy flew Year and I, fer my 
part was delighted with the oppertunity te pay him the same 
ceurtesy. The premise ef anether and lenger visit was ferth- 
ceming fe next week when we may at that time settle the fate 
•S the werld. 

Thelma Kyser telephened this afterneon, asking if she and 
Carmen might come down fer a pre-Hedges conference en the mejrew 
. .and take the opportunity te deliver seme Christmas presentsl 
I teld her I weuld prob~ ly he at heme but I feund mself 
we.deting if the imprending sleet sterm weuld diaceurqge P, 
them, and, if se, I shall net mind. I have se 
much stuff to do, new that I r _m making rapid strides back 
teward nermalcy, that I am .inclined te resent interruptiens • 

A telephene frem Millsaqugh's indicates that, apparently 
en the strength, ef this week s meme abeut Mrs. Ueere, quite 
a few peeple have ceme .te the stere te ask fer the beek while 
Millspaugh has never had the pleasure ef hearing frem Mrs. 

Ueere er seen a copy ef her epus. Surely she and la Briarweed 
are-in a class by themselves. 

I cannot help giving much thought te Hr. Wenk's case. It 
will be twe weeks en the merrew that the accident teek place . 

He is new up and walking areund and yet the dectera claim it is 
still tee early te determine if is completely biind er net. I'm 
beginning t^.tl^ink this may simply be a means ef letting the 
patient' and his family get accustemed te'his lack ef sight and 
se cushion the she k. Suppesedly he has the best 
medical attention in Shrevepert, suppesedly geed but I am 
het sure it is the be3t ebtainable. With his parents in 
daily attendance, his wife and berthers-in-law frequent visiters, 
I recken I am feelish te be drawing the cenclusien I am but 
I must say, te my w a y e thinking, the future fer 
his sight leeks might dubieus te me frem where I sit behind 
the b a mbee hedge. 

i ■v'T.' ’ ' 0 

Tee tired last night te sleep er de a ny work, I 
cempremised iji a fashion that previded me with the greatest 
3atisfactien, —I had a prelenged and thereughly enjeyable 
all Feyer musicale I wisji I might affer myself the same 
luxury tonight but I'm net se tired and I might even stir up 
a theught fer a meme and that will give me pleasure, tee .•• • •• 


Memorandum: 

•v: . 11 . ■ : si-;.. \** 6 UT. 

The weather is the thing, ■—25 abeve this merning 
with the thermemeter nejer getting up te the 
nen-freesing peint all day, and the premise it uill sag te 
6 tenight t with a duplicate fer the merrew 
and the assurance that Tuesday evening will see a warming 
trend. I am delighted te say that we did net get 
the predicted rain and sleet, the skies having remained 
almest cleudless threugheut the week end . 

I talked with I. S.W. this afterneen and learned nething 
ef interest. Bhe is suffering frem a celd and spent 
Mew Year's in bed. That reminds me that I felded up 
last night at 6 and remained, sleeping, until 7 this 
merning, which means I needed the sleep, I guess, and that 
I am feeling much perked up. 

t i . • ■■■■■' -i ' • -v s. •) 

Thelma and Carmen came en Saturday i fte me en. 

Carmen breught me a piece ef fruit cake, as usual, and tltelma 
me seme fruit cake and several bettles ef wine, —the 
latter frem the Hysterical Ladies, I believe, and all 
ef the variety which are advertised as being "like 
the wine grandmother used te make", and I believe 
the advertising dees net tell a faleeheed if it is true 
that grandma didn't ge in much fer alchelic beverages fer 
what we sampled during their visit tasted like 
sweetened water and was bery.nice and utterly lacking 
in inspiratienal attributes. 

■- ” - U .• ", ui\ 

They decided that with Leuisiana Mepi rtments hoing 
access te mevie oameras, perhaps we ceuH make 
a Uatchitechs fil^witheut Mr. Hedges. Abeut 
such matters, neither Mr. Hedges nets Mesdam.es 
Kyser and Breazeale have little inkling as te the varieus 
aspects ef what gees inte the making ef a mevie and 
even less abeut Qistributien. They weuld get further 
if they joined ferces but even se, I regard _ 

the whole business,-whether joint er separate with 
a jaundiced eye, I de net regret Carelyn is net being 
censidered since her present lack ef stability gives 

ic' ■* • 11 8 which a re already 








Francois MlGNON Papers* #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection 
f North Carolina Library, Chapel' Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


Monday, January 5th, 19 59 


Memorandum' 

The w eather remains sunny and cold although 
it didn't go te 6 last night, as predicted but 
only t# 17. In spite ef today's blue sky, it 


w itj. y uw mi* x n o y u v c wj o w uu, y a * j. u c o n, y , * v 

didn't get above freezing today either and tonight 
it will be somewhere in the 20's, I supptse • In 
short, it is cold, as January is want ta be and I shtuld 
prefer it cold new and milder in February when the 
Chinese magnolias begin trying te make up their 
minds. 


celephane sr seme such, a number of writings 

•f Hiss v ermen that lyauf appeared in avrieus magazines 

a nd new8 a papers. Carrie oalled +he Assistant Librarian 

the ether day and a sked thqt she coMe t» priarweed 

the ffHewing day ta pick up ene such rarefy frem 

afergetten magazine. There were ethqr things 

scheduled fer thqt day but they were shelved and 

the jeurney ta Br iarweed made, visa Dermen ' 

was stmewhere in the weeds, digging, and 

as the lady ao preached, Carrie was in the midst 

ta trying ta pail off from seme ef her pet 

plants a limb that had fallen frem aneighbermg 

tree. As a natural impulse, the librarian 

lady veleqteered ta give her a hand in the job 

that was ebvieusly tee much fer the lady with the spade 

and was astonished when the spade lady turned an her, 

denouncing her fer trying te snitch seme ef her 

precious plants „ I'm surprised the assistant 

didn t turn her back en the whele business and 

fly b a ck te tewn but she seethed the ruffled feelings 

and eventually erder came aut ef the mental chaes 

and the eld magaa, ne was preduced and the 

visiter.returned te heme base • Peer Carrie, 

I hope she isu t starting te get senile at this 
stage ef things •„ 

I listened te Heward 1 T. Smith this i fterneen 
in his reund up'ef the year s pregress in the Arts 
a nd enjoyed what I heard. I was espeoivlly interested 

in the CliftenFadinan apprais 1 ef the Pasternak bei^ 

™ wnftjg fsr lt 


It’s always nice hearing frem Helen altheugh 
her letter, teday didn't semehew seem up te par and 
I was quite taken abach by her apparent serieusness 
regarding seme Manhattan astrelegist .1 have 
heard it se eften, — bankers censulting 
astelegists, that I tale it ut mean that 
since **mtricans are vastly cencerned with 
meney, even as meet ether peeple who den't have 
se much getting held ef much, that it must be 
stecA in trade fer all astrelegists te indicate they 
have a banker clientele.. I shall prebahly 
write’ Helen that her astrelegist is a feel if he 
keeps an giving his banker clients glimpses 
inte Wa'll Street's deings en the merrew when 
he, himself, ceuld clean up the street en his 
ewn Leek and se net have te better telling 
other people how te make millions. 

I-have always felt that astilcgy is quite harmless 
if it stickcs pc- conservative policy of the more 
restrained spiritualist type. -'Jf.e few spiritualists I 
know seem ti get great■satisfaction tut ef 
their occasit 


1 seances with the spirits ef their dead 


terature 



FRANCOIS NiGNON Papers, #H-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection 
r of North Carolina"Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
1ST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


Tuesday, January 6th, 19 59 


Memorandum: 

Observe the new ribbenl The sne that 
has been misbehaving ef late decided te tear itself 
inte tme parts fer a space ef several insches and, 
by happy chance, J was able te place hands en sne 
which little Miss Lee' had supplied ever se far back and, 
as yeu see, it is werking — thus far, at least, 
and let us all held the theught it may centinue . 

4 • 

The radib speaks ef inclement weather in Lyme 
as the rigers ef eurs begins te relax. Tt was cleudy 
cJ. 1 day and appears te be getting ready te rain 
but since the thermemeter get up a beve freezing teday, 
which it didn't yesterday-, ene deesn't mind the 
prespect ef a dak ef dampness since it prebably 
will net cenvert itself inte' ice and se tear up 
the limbs ef the larger trees'. 

The pestman was an hear ahead ef schedule teday 
and se was I and se I caught him with seme eut- 
geing mail but <*• he must have left heme base befere 
the main delivery seui'ces had passed his way, 
there was he first class mail. 

I a m se olacf the metrepelitan papers 
are being published again fer there must be lets 
ef intersting things appearing in the celumns 
these days, what with the beings inCuba, the 
erqanizing ef the new G engress, the visit ef 






From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS# #M“5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 




9658 


oaae 


9659 


it taking a belated tuck in its skirts and I sheuld 
like ta think that papal intereat in the eperetic 
farm af Art might lead ta a manifeatatian af 
interest in same af the ether farms. The 
marvels spensered in painting, sculpture and 
architecture during the Renaissance when there were 
peeple like Raphael, Cellini and Michel Ange areund ta 
ltnd a hand must have put V a tican cultivatien af 
the Arts in the shade far succeeding Pantiffs and 
far the life af me, I can't seem ta think af 
any Art patrenage warth mentianing fram the 
Renaissance until new altheug)i there myst have 
been same. Rut Heaven knews that hasn t been 
much tn the last century and se I take it as 
a geed sign that the 23rd Jehn is stepping eut 
a bit in the directien af the apera and I shall 
be even happier if he sallies ferth in same ether 
Art direetiana, taaWith a pelagies ta 
Henry Adams, ene must admit, if ene steps ta 
think af it, that Reme, se far as the Vatican 
is cencerned t has been vastly lacking in 
"grandeaza* ever since 187 0. It seems a 
little add but it must be agreed that in many 
climes and aver many cen uries, Religien has been 
pretty much the parent an d pretecter a the Arts 
and while it must be admited Religien has eften 
been devastati ng an same af them, it is equal, ly 
true that She has been instrumental in furthering 
many. Fa the life af me, I can't think af 
any significant centributien she has made tu* ef Rams 
far a hundred ybars but perhaps there had ta be 
a rest periad, awaiting the advent ef a 23rd Jehu, 
and the Lard knews I hape the-Haly Papa deesn t step 
at the apera. 

^ • 1 ' . 'J * . • l * ' ; ' ’ 

At the mement, and enly just new dees the idea eccur 
ta me, I think 1 sheuld like ta attempt a Cane Ai i ver 
Mens an Jehn XIlll a»*<I Faxy Grandpa but I recken 
the respedt due the Pantiff s 77 gears weuld preb a bly 
be-cleud the thing se that it weuld have ne farce. 

Well, sa much far'■the thaught and the bx ribben fram 
Lyme.,,,,,.. 


Wednesday, January 7th, 2959. 


Memerandumt 

It was suppssed ta rain but it didnlt -and we 
even had pledbant sunshine this a ft erne an with a 
mild thermameter reading in the 60 

The enclesure speaks far itself. I gather 
there must have been quite a flare-up in the Register 
menage 4 I think James is sa wrang in net gaing with 
Kay ta Aunt Willie's birthday party 

And what ie make af the news that the Racket Uirl 
was in tewn an Sunday ? I thaught she was suppssed ta be 
assaulting the bastiens af Havana. And if she is 
in 'Jew Orleans, what happened ta the vacatian and where is 
the Last *ard. I shauld like ta cammunicate with the 
latter aver several pred ctien ideas iut hestitate writing her 
at her Shrevepert effice since I da nat want ta letter 
ta ga t’a her affice manager. I must say it is uphill 
business, trying ta keep up with these elusive ladies. 

And speaking ef, the Last Ward reminds me af s ante thing 
that was said a few days age.te me by ene ef my friends 
whs has never gene ta schaal and is rather inclined ta be 
an the dumb side but withal a swell hearted guy. I suppese 
he may be in his early 20s and 1 guess x have knewn him sines 
he was a k#ui 2 er 3 year eld Far years he has drepped by ta a ee me 
almast every day, usually remarking that the weather "sure is fine 
whether it is sr net and then rambles aleng hi's way. With the 
earning af the new year, he drepped in ta say Hewdy, remark 
upen haw fine the weather was ltheugh it was belew /reusing and 
then ta remark an what was reallystirring in his mind : 

" .. and I was studyin ' .abeut it las’ might and 

I was a-sayih' ta myself that all the years we'd knewed each 
ether and ne'er a strange-ward. . . « ■" 

TMiKAH.ni. s itn 




From the 


Francois Hionon Papers, #M-3889 


in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


ecac 


9660 


<» 




9661 


1ST 


Thursday, January 8th, 1959, 


' o-i 




. in 


he fact that I chanced te mentien the new wrinkle at the 
Vatican in my meme ef last night semehew impelled me te 
kneck tff a Cane iver Memb kef ere f elding up my kea ref, under 
the title ef "The Pepe Steps Out". I imagine it wasn t much hut 
wtltoibkrve as the basis fer a celumn when ene is wanting. 


The artist telephened me .teday te say that 'Jackie is 
bQain and altheugh tier leg is still in a cast, she will 


be 


able te eccupy her wheel chair here in the ceUntr^y befere it's time 
fer her te ge b a ck te the hespital fer further aitentien. x he 
insurance agent, — Pat, —handling Jackie's accidet, reperts that 
her he 

hespital bills thus far have eaten up several hundred dellars 
in excess ef theameunt ef .the insurance al'lewable and se the whels 
payment will be made te the hespital. I deubt if the artist realises 
this ga yet fer etherwise she w euld have veiced a eemplaint 
that semebedy dene cheated us-es eut ef a car", en which she 
h a d her heart set immediately fellewing the accident. 

I. saw but Madam Regard yesterday, Celeste h a viiig spent the day 
in Alexandria, but beth ladies were en deck teday. Tfie 
enly news they had te effer was that Dr. *enk was scheduled 
te h a ve his lewer jaw set teday. There is still h# repert 
as te his visisn except that he remains blind. 

It appears te me there is seme thing radically wreng 
with my daily pregram in that I never seem te getareund te 
re d anything any mere. It seems te me this cenditien 
began well befere the helidays put reutins inte 
f tail spin. I am determined I am geihg te de seme thing by 
way ef oerreoting the emissien right away 
. ,, , 1 ft"• 

A slip ef the t eng e by a CBS cemmentater tenight 
resulted in this semewhat astenishing statement :. 

"Teday Russia'S.Deputy'Premier jsurneyed te Cleveland 
te break bad with the leading industrialists ef that city." 


a 


Such 


a cembinatien eught be hard en a ny furniture, 1 guess. 




Memerand up j 


. 


Hew nice t‘e find ene ef the nicest letters imaginable 
frem Lyme, and this in spite ef the checking 
news centained in ene paragra-ph .. 

* '*■ v# * ‘ —. ■ • — ' * ^ ' 1 V. sj ^ o » •- * • • 

And the shecking news I refer te, ef ceurse, is the 
matter ef the beuncing check. Only peeple whe are 
rich can a fferd te issue checks that will beunce, 
bankrupts can never afferd te indulge in such felly, 
even as enly the very rich aleng akeut this time ef year 
can affe d te cemplain abeut the miseries ef paying 
taxes. I am se glad yeu shared this secret with me. 

I haven't the slightest deubt the ameunt wij.1 .be cevered 
immediately when Carelyn receives yeur sease 's greetings 
and the news. Yeu were se right in referring te the 
matter in yeur nets te her. Knewing i\e as yu de, 
yeu will rest assured that j shall manifest the meet 
cemplete surprise if Carelyn ever mentiens it te me, —the 
surprise ef hearing „beut it fer the first time. In the 
meat time, I trust yeu will let me knew the ameunt 
invelved se that if prempt restitutien is net made 
■Return mail frem Carelyn, I may cast a keut 

_any credit she may have at this bend ef 

that yeu may reimbursed in full. She has en eccasi 
| ve pictures frem her ewn cellectien ui th me 
fer saT^^td the preeeeds ef any sueh sales will be 
autematically diverted te put her aeoeunt with yeu 
in balance. 1 

Of ceurse, I cannet believe she ceuld pessibly intend 
giving yei{, ef all peeple , a werthieves check, but 
while I can imag ins' ao^yene might inadvertently write a check 
in f a ver ef seme impersenal erganizatien never te a friend 
ef werse, a friend ef a friend. 


el 


r\ . 


... ... 




From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS# #fi~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


±3iie 


9662 


IddU 


9663 


It was se char a crer istically generous •/ V' u * 9 
return the Lincoln partrait. Maw difficult it is t» 
get a credit balance far me in Lyme • Smile. And 
thanks )»* end far the Cangreaaianal list which strikes me as 
pure perfect, and thanks, tee, far all the news. I was ( 
frankly distressed te learn a the news af Feuchw a ngler s death. 
Surely the werld has lest a n ernament te literature. 

I liked everything yeu had te say abeut dinner at Teur d 
me possibilities such as that esnstitute prespects and vistas that 
truly make life werth living. 

And thanks far telling me sf theether beak 
Life braught aut., —a valume af w ich I had 
never heard . It seunds perfectly wanderful and yeu are 
t te right in giving it a thereugh gsing ever because 
I shall prebably be. calling an yaux fsr camparisans af impressians 
i a thausand times fl n'd mere when I have had a ys at the beak 
audit will be twice as interesting if each has seme 
netien as te what the ether is talking abeut. 

At supper tenight, -*■ learned frem the . clerk that 
J. M. and Celeste had gene te see the Wenks. Obvieusly my 
girl friend would be a lane and se, instead af trying te find 
aut what went an in Washingtan today, I be-teek myself aoress 
t the fence. It w a s between 9 and 10 be fere 
the felks get back and there was seme talking te da regarding 
the s ituutien up there. Dr.^-enk's jaw operation with much 
•plastings threwn in, teak place taday and fsr the next 
six weeks he will be rigged up with all sorts af strange grists 

seme three feet leng, sticking aut at 
said vhe chief surgeen has t a darhngdkJM 
She asked him abeut Dr.»>enl(s eyes. 

say as he is net an eye decter . Thal^^/JJ^^mvneus enough. 

But when Celeste spake the next sentWce^which didn't 
strike her as exceptional, I cencluded that ss far 
as any visisn is can cerned, all hape must be 
gene, —far what she said was• 

, "Taday, be fare hi.s jaw ape rati an, Dr. Wenk had 
his first lessen in Braille." 

I hape Ola Hire deesn't seem this week's Enterprise, 
and especially the netatien at the bettem af Cane hiver Memo. 

I vastly regret that netatien was added by the Editer .. 


Friday, January 9th, 19 59. 


Memorandum : 

Our weather is fine but cold, giving me an 
excellent e xcuse to remain within doors for the most part and 
so dig deeper into some of the holiday mail, too much 
of which still emains unanswered. . 

, M ■ | 1 j ■ 1 V) ■ * i .. 

Mrs. Walker telephoned this morning to ask if she 
might come down to run over some things with me and I set 
the hour e arly enough so that her offspring would still be 
in school. 

I enjoyed the sitting very much for we accomplished 
quite a lot. She brought me a cherry pie she had 
baked in the morning and I liked that, too, although 
I relished the amma only during her stay but I attacked 
it with gusto immediately after she left . 

Among other things she wanted to discuss was 
the proposal to build a dam below Cloutierville to 
extend the waters of Cane *iver further down stream than 
they now exist in volume. She said Cloutierville 
people opposed the proposition and he^nterprise hand 't 
made up its mind a s yet which side to espouse and my 
advice was requested. That was easy, as I explained, 
for although j had heard nothing a bout the i 
propostion until then, all a had to. learn was which 
side the Cloutierville people were taking for. that would 
automatically put me. on the opposite side since my 
opinion of the Cloutierville mentally is far 
from high. i:T , .... , . . s - l >_i j. - 

I also took occasion to get the address of 
the lady of The\J ] ational Trust sen that 1 might w rite 
her to advise that at one time Weeks had formulated a 
Preface for the cook book. As this was done on a tape recorder 
it was not likely to be a mong the stacks of recipes he had 

assembled t —the .material. I. suppose, the 
national Foundation wll use m making up the book. 





From the FRANCOIS MiSNON PAPERS, #M~3889 In the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9664 


9665 


Sunday, Jauuary 11th, 1959, 


I am hoping the knowlege of the existence of 
such a Preface may be of help to the national Trust although 
they may never find it unless the tape in the house are 
carefully preserved. 

I did not see my nearest neighbors at the coffee hour 
this morn\iig as they had gone to town to see the eye doctor 
at some early hour. curing the antique baby sitting session 
last night, M adam Regard had said her vision in 
one eye was giving her some difficulty and that she 
needed both her eyes to enable her to do all the reading 
3he wants to do. She reads bits from the newspapers, 
the Catholic Action from cover to cover and always Thomas-a-Kempis. 

It was rather abusing, the conversation she and I had 
a few days back, when I mentioned Thomas-a-beckett and she 
thought I was talking about Thomas-a-Kempis and we jogged 
along at a great,, rate and I saw no point in getting the thing 
straight and during the whole proceedings her daughter was 
listening but, never guessed that her Mother and A were 
talking a boift two different people for I reckon she had 
never heard of either • 

It was such a pleasure to run through the dandy letter from 
Lyme again yesterday night when an unexpectedly late secretarial visi a 
made thatpossible and tonight I could read it again for the 
third time. 

l < 

Thi3 evening I have also taken time out to go over 
the calendar again. I like it so much and it has 
so many ideas that be-get others for me that I find it 
a source of infinite inspiration. 

How all I have to do is to round up the'Lost Word, — 
quite aproject in itself, - and eventually we may get 
things to turning in three o four different lines of endeavor and 
through all of them running the prts played by little Miss Lee.... 


Memorandum: 

Such a lovely week end, weather wise, what with 
the thermometer in the 60 ' s^ and -the flights in 
the 30 's and just right for sleeping. 

On Saturday noon, just as thS clerk passed by for a 
quick drink before dinner, the telephone raitg. 

It was the rocket girl. She said she had tried to get me 

last night but had been unsuccessful, — a pparantly from 

town. I asked where she was calling from and she said 

Shreveport. I understood she and Ola Mae had gone 

only as far as St. Joe or St. John o/t some such place 

which T understood is near Panama City, Florida which, I suppose, 

is somewhere in the Pensacola neighborhood. I asked no 

particulars. *>he said she had called fhelma last night 

and the latter wcjs very cordial and invited her to h a ve lunch 

at the President, s Residence early this week, perhaps Tuesday. I 

told her to proceed at her own risk since Thelma had not of late 

been too happy about what she felt was neglect. She asked 

meif I was advising her not to go and I said I was not but 

was merely reminding her that the cordiality might well 

be balanced off against attitudes known to have obtained during 

the past year. I suppose Thelma may have envisioned 

Carolyn,doing a movie for the Hysterical Section so that 

Thelma could say Goodbye to Mr. Hodges. Personally, T 

think Carolyn would be very unwise to undertake a film 

for the'Hysterical ladies for she certainly would get 

nothing out of it and how well should we all know and 

especially Carolyn, herself, that she cannot afford making 

movie 3 or anything else at the moment for nothing. 

t She said.she was expecting important things to break in 
the Crescent City this coming week and would be returning 
there about Tuesday or Wednesday and x told her that was fine. 
She sa id she would telephone me when* she got to Hatchito ches and 
I said that would be fine. *nd that was that. 




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9668 



Monday, January 18th, 19 59. 


9667 


I talked with Ora this afternoon and she seems 
to be getting along alright. Site mentioned 
one of her college ^students whose grades had started 
off with B, B-plus, C and then down to F. She 
asked the youth to consult with her after class. "hen 
she a sked him if she was failing as a teacher, he broke 
down and wept, He said hp had no money but a priest 
who thought he had a good mind had been helping him 
with his college expenses and that things had gone alright ( 
but that-w[ten the other boys suggested a frolic, he couldn t 
resist and so he had given up his studying • to be with them 
on their nightly carryings-on. Me said he now realised 
he had betrayed hijnself, for lohile the priest could 
forgive him for h a ving failed, he couldn't forgive himself. 

Ora told him he could get b a ck on his feet so far_as her 
course was concerned and as this took place last Friday, 
she didn t know if the boy woujd be continuing or not. 

Lucky is the student, 1 reckon, who gets Ora as an instructor. 

. She spoke of the Cane^iver Memo andsaid she is going to 
h a ve one of her classes do an essay on same or about 
columns in general with a view of directing her students 
to the newspapers. I told her 1 would write a couple 
of paragraphs of a Memo and send it to her and if she 
• g 0 t any likely essays from her students, she might append 
same to my first.couple of paragraphs and send same to 
the Enterprise without me seeing what had been stirred up. 

I thought this might quicken class interest in something 
oontempoary in their work and at the same time give some 
notion to readers of the column as to what the college students 
h a ve to say relative to such matters. I suppose 
we shall not getaround to doing this until mid February but 
it may be interesting to see what, if anything, comes 
of it. 

First class mail was short on Saturday which gave me 
n opportunity to examine Life, a rriving on t hat date, 
a)\d I. found , the pictures of the Golden t Bowl unexpectedly 
elaborate. How I want to read Senator x Humphries 


Memorandumt 

Lovely weather in the upper 60's and 
the promise for more straight ahead. In view of 
^the excessive rainfall during the pa si year, it is 
interesting that averages are about 4 inches behind 
covering the past month. 

The* enclosure comes from somebody I never heard of. 
One gathers the writer sees the Cane^iver Memo more 
or less regularly and yet 'l'heEnterprise supplies 
nobody in Paris, Texas, with a subscription. 

Several times of late, 1 have found myself recalling 
one of the most di strubing things Lyle ever said to me: 

"Did you ever stop to think that Miss Cammie 
may have been just like Sister when her age?" 

I am convinced now that Dr. Venk h a s permanently 
• lost hi3 sight but one Clings to the hope of a miracle. 

. It is interesting 

as a coincidence, or rather a parallel, that both Miss 

Cammie and her daughter should have been in their 

mid 40*8 when domestic disaster over-took them, 

if, indeed, what must have been a grave^shock in Miss 

Cammie's case was, indeed, a disaster, which it may or 

m a y not have been. Miss u ammie was born about 1878 

a nd Mr. Henry died either in 1917 or 1918, 1 forget which, 

while Sister was born in 1915. One thing 

both mother and daughter had in common by way of luck 

was J. H. to fall back on. 

It certainly would be a miracle if the situation in 
which Sister currently finds herself should effect a 
change making her a little more like her mother. 













* 


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—— : — - ' . —r~ 




9668 


mm 


9669 




Tuesday, January 15th, 1959. 


It must be taken into account, however, tltat 
Miss Cammie had one great advantage over her daughter, 
and that was the fact which never tired of proclai ming 
to all her offspring j 

"Don't forget, F, and I, neither of us, are any 
kin to the denrys", It wasn t all advantage ^ 1 believe, 
i having drwin ancestry but at least it didn t have 
the additional burden of kinship with the male 
parent's tribe on the child's side. 

And then the telephone rang it and it was 
,1. S. Willard, The conversation went on for ever so 
long and covered ever so many subjects, As 
usual, the lady is h a ving plantation problems and I 
told her I thought if she had sense she would 
sell her broad acres, which is certainly none of my 
business, There was a long rigamarole about kin folks 
of the Mark Somperyac branch somewhere in the Cannes 
neighborhood and the Janin descendants, --the original 
mentioned \n the Journal of the (loung M a n of Fashion, 
n nd they live in Paris, *nd this reminded I. S. W, that 
the D a vid Mixons who have been in California for a while 
are 'currently en route for Paris in a leisurely fashion, 
having just been for a while in Japan and currently 
spending a couple of months in Hong-Kong, --Heaven knows 
why, ind so they will progress to Paris where they 
will arrive by Spring. After spending the summer there, 
they will move on to Mew ,rleans where D^vid Mixon 
will do a cat or a pupette show for $ while at least, 

< m . . i... *.i 

And that reminds me of Lyle 's hilarious accounts of 
D a vid's trained cats that used to perform in the 
Mixon little theatre and how the audience, especial ly 
tl*e children would be so entranced with the Cats 
performances that they would applaude with gusto, — 

. to which the cats invariably re-acted in unison by 
n ll scampering away. Well, so much for the Mixons 
n nd I, S. W, and me for it is nearly 10 and I think 
I shall get the news and perhaps a d a b of shut-eye early 


• .jict •*> av • yv • »• *•»'** . 

, ,4 * • . * f • 

Memorandum: 

I trust a registered item doesn't come as a surprise and I 
trust the reason for the registration may be matching the 
correct out-standing figure, If not, will you kindly 
let me know so we can put the thing ship-shape, 

• • • ' 

The weather is pure Spring and so pleasantly delightful 
that no jacket was need all day or tonight until 8:15 when I 
called it a day. 

The.Rocket Jirl appeared unexpected at a quarter of five, 
unannounced although I had understood she threatened to visit 
the Natchitoches area, heading southward about the middle of the 
week. 


The first thing she had to tell me was that she thought little 
Miss Lee one of the sweete t persons she ever knew. She said there 
had been some sort of a transaction, specifying what it was, and that 
1 the gentleness and kindliness in the world, little Miss Lee 
ioliday greetings and a t the very end^and so delicately 




check had bounced. She said she was 
touched wn^W little Miss Lee had been so * thoughtful a 
foresee that various pressures might have occasioned 
the unexpected ap pearance of rubber in the slip of pa r 
therefore had suggested leisureliness in making amends 
which she vastly appreciated and would be so glad to 
make the most of at the moment. 

It is jU3t that unawareness of somebody else being embarrassed 
or inconvenienced that floors me, 

1 let the whole t thing, be news to me anddid no mention 
that she had a credit on primitives . I accordingly am 
bringing the Lee-RacJtef account into balance 
from that fund and thus the Lyme~ books will balance and 
should the Rocket come through at some future time in 
‘Bui? l nr C 7 «°or°i£/ P^i^itiye account may be increased 

have a ) t? i o J” 1 + e tUe correct amount is, and I 
hope all this meets with, your approval and since the Rocket will 




*-« t am 









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coat*. 


9670 


9671 


s* \ 




If that last a 


line 
1 


ran off the track 


in the fore- 
the Socket will 


going paragrap h, what was saying was that 
never know that the ccount has been put in balance and, 
if and when she makes the proper gesture in the direction of 
Lyme, it can so easily be credited to the primitive account 


of whose status 
the next. 


she is unacquanted from one year s end to 


Word concerning Shreveport doings is tltat the mansion 
in that quarter will probably have to be sold and something 
more modest substituted for theWenk menage. -J-t is said 
the Estate will probably h a ve to give the f amily assistance, 
including the education of the children. What a bitter pill that ud ul 
be for anyone but how much more so for the sister who has always 
behaved so badly to all the members of her family. There is 
an element about it so suggestive of Ephram Frone and one cannot 
but wonder if and how the adjustment will be made and how far 
will go the repercusions. 


Under separate cover goes forward a dab of fruit cake 
which came from the Evans-Wortham clan of Houston. I know n 
if the cake be any good or not but if it should 
be, it woulA be so nice to share it and, if not, it can 
so easily be tossed into the trash can. 


ot 


In veiw of the s evere freezes at the turn of the year, 
the banana paints were thoroughly "cooked" and so they have 
been cut and hauled away. -this year it was impossible to 
secure any cotton a hulls and so I was delighted to discover 


secure any convon a nuns ana so ± was aeatyn t,ea ou 

a whole mound of hay which, forsome reason or other, was not being use 
for feeding cattle and I am covering the roots of bgngi^s^m^tftkin o 



plant, watering the hay morning and evening 
pieces that much faster and eventually farm] 
conserve moisture when Spring breaks througi 
e over again. 


Irm days 


_ Reverting to the Socket, she appears to have at long last been 
sold on the -'Jew Orleans, Dusk-Dark, and goes to -'Jew Orleans 
to contemplate s/tots although she will be back in Marshall 
in a couple of days to plan a film for The National Trust 
which certainly should have one but has no money and planning a film 
under the circumstances, strikes me as a great waste of time. 

• * 

In the -laugh section, 1 received a fine package from 
Louis Zelenko, Jr., of Glen St. Mary, Florida, a nephew of 
Thelma Kyser who is ip the nursery business. And what 
does the package apparantly contin, --well,■ you could have knocked 
me down with a fender, —roots of butterfly lilies, reminding 
merotft smfieUpeddj-dUu^c^sj,^,^^ g s#pft e #1 ghf> u je ton i *... 


Wednesday, January 14th, 1959. 




Memorandum : 


i 

V • 


icn: 


The weather is perfectly lovely, all sunny and so warm no one 
wants a jacket and the narcissus unfolding at a great rate to get 
3'lowed up a little on t he morrow when it is supposed to cool off again , 


she 


was going to 


The Rocket called about 11 to s ay 
dine at noon w'ith John and 1 helma at the President's residence and 
that Thelma had^iried to get me on the 'phone to ask me to join 
them. I declined with thanks. 

. . 0 
The Rocket said she might get here for a brief pause on her 
wat South, arriving at 8: 30. ‘ ... 


Blythe appeared about 8 bringing some lady with her, a 
woman with as much intellectual attainment as Blythe has artistic 
gifts to her credit. I can t'imagine the two of them hitting it 
off very intimately although they have known each other for years. 
Blythe always tends toward dumb ladies for associates in large 
measure it seems to me and this new-comer was a pleasant change. 

using a Reading Machine for about a year and somehow 
escaped all the little pieces of knowledge 
hanics of securing records f etc., which seems ijwiia&ible 
ve avoided. 



I was enchanted to set 


recorded 

1 TV 



short buts, acquaint her with the 


and so on. They staid until 3:30 a nd as I ret 
handing them to their car, the Rocket appeared} 
had a pleasant breaking of bread, after which^John had 
arranged'for the three of them to go to some li-ptle theatre 
on the campus where a class had been assembled and a couple 
of Carolyn s films were shown, f\. - > / " 

r •. 1* »<$ , UB Ot . I O • ■ 

Thelma asked Carolyn if she expected to do the Hodges 
Gardens film. Carolyn did not tell her that Ola Mae had 
'phoned her a boui noon to say that Mr. Hodges had called a meeting 
of his staff for a Gardens.rendezvous for tomorrow to decide a bout 
the matter. Charlie Phillips xis trying to get the job for 

' * 0 1,0 


A 


r\ it i< r 








T 


From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS* #M~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9673 


9672 


one of his boy friends so he c an cash in on a percentage . Why 
Hodges has to drag a whole office force to the Gardens to go into 
a matter of deciding which person or corporation will get the job 
seems ridiculous since probably nobody in his office 
knows a thing -about such matters . 

Carolyn got off n bout 4:30, asking me if ± would 
communicate with the Evans-Wort ham crowd of Houston to see about 


Tliursday, January 15th, 1959 


Memorandum: 


It was such a pleasant surprise to find 'uesday 
word from Lyme in Thursday's post and how-may I begin 
to tell you how much 1 app eciate every word, every transcript 
and every clipping, especially pa. rticulars regarinQ 
Mary Tod hunter Clarke n bout whom T have been so long in 


a movie of L uisiana landmarks, perhaps backed by some oil company 
since the national Trust has no money for movie making. All 
these plans are so interesting and so unlikely to pay off anything, 
n m amazed that Carolyn pursues them so madly, 

A slight interruption at this point, —Kay 
calling from Hew Orleans to say James had told her he thought 
I must be pretty sink. It was sweet of her to call, lhere 
was another r eason, —she wants to have a long talk with me alone 
in n bout 10 days. She says some'capable woman, a nurse, has arrived 
from Charleston to look after Aunt *illie under Kay s supervision. 

I don't see how this is going to help much since Kay feels she shou 
remain in the apartment on St. Charles Avenue uh ile James continues 
at the Pontalba. If I can every get my'children straightened out. 


Krt was so very kind of you to acq a int me with the 
t correspondence and I believe it was yesterday or the 
day before that 1 passed along the words of the 
lady regarding the maiter. I am no sure 

I have stressed tliis point which I find important enough to risk 
repeating, to wit, that what distresses me is the fact that 
the simplicity of the child really seems to operate in matters 
such as credit and there seems to be a complete absence of 
ally feeling of 3hock or mortification over a thing which 
was undoubtedly unintentional but which, nevertheless, never 
should have happened. 

I felt the same mild surprise at other matter of fact 
things which have done which were carried through without 
proper thought, it seemed to me, —all qiite harmless but 
still things that my own sense of a fitness of things would 
never have permitted me to,dream of. A perfect example 
is the case when James and Kay were'in townad were staying 
at the motel. I believe Carolyn was staying at the motel , 
too. Be that as it may, I. S. Dillard had given her a key 
to her house for her convenience at any time. She 
suggested, —and I gasped, - that following' di nner, 
we all go oufer and spend the evening at I. S. V.’s, that 

lady not ..being at home. Although I. 
registers, sheuxis to become their fri 
they hud not her and the fac 

it seemed to me vastly'out of line for four people to "" ’ * 

barge m on the place. It is possible I am super- 


And right here another telephone, Zelma 
uhg, drove over from Houston today in his pr^ 
ought his brotlter-, Cy, down from Cognac for a\ 
Mma. On their way back to Cy s house, t, 
Mahout half way between here and Bermuda 
pinned under the thing, and u y 


, hey had to 
was taken to the 
while they were making preparations to 
Cy got up and walked out of the hospital 
while the hospital was searching for him. But 
it was Johnny, a pure sepia version of Gary Cooper, with whom 
they were h a ving trouble for while the car was tron to shreds, 
Johnny wasn t hurt but they coul n’t stop him from crying over 
the fate of-his pretty car. I was called to ask if 1 could 
help. I thought x could. And so my patient will be brought 











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9674 




9675 


Well, so much for that, *nd 3peaking o tlie^egisters , it seems 
a mild coincidence that Kay should have called me for an conference 
last night and today's‘post should h a ve brought a similar 
request from °ames t I shall play one off against the other, 
if I can. If I could only get the two of them to make the trip 
together, knocks their heads together and set them going 
again, it would be so much easier all . round In vieu/ of ol 1 the 
scuffling going on around here at the moment, it isn t 
to happy a time to be paying visits from Natchitoches by 
taxi and although I have plenty of friends who would gladly , 
lend a car, 1 don't belie.ve in that sort of thing either j» 
view of the visitation presently pending on the pi rt of the National 
Trust people, scheduled for a bout the 2 5 or 27, perhaps I can stave 
them both off until February and in the mean time, we can hold 
the thought they may not need any conferences with a pa rty of the third 

part. 

All thes bites the machine is taking at 
leads me to your suggestion regarding having this thing 
rigged up, I am thinking ' a bout it but am a little involved intwo 
different sets of friends threatening to undertake the matter on 
my behdikfao glad to be kept abreast of doi)igs oversees, so 
lamentable in one instance so delightful in the other. The 
realisation of the Swiss dream is so wonderful. 

From today's report, Lestan felt the program of respite was only 
one in name but perhaps the variations provide compensations, 

I do hope the patient is rocking along sedately and the new 
"surinetndante des enfonts doesn t weary of her new chores 
before everything is Yitip-bhape Sgain, 

t 1 

of you to let me know a bout the Kimbrough 



It is so kind 
program of which', of course 


I had heard nothing. I am going 


to cast about in the air w a ves to see if I can turn some¬ 

thing which I know I should elish. I'm bound to write to the 
lady, to, offering some points concerning the Spring jaunt to 
Normandy. I h a ve waited so she might get the 
New Year’s confettie out of her p rruke. ' 

•on Wichita, — Mrs. Wood, indicates I made the same 
ling thewrong Enterprise. I'm sending today's 
’s attached, and since the column is complete 
ihan one column, it comes out alright. Do, 
let me know if there is a slip up, 

. =>■ 



please, always 


kgndna: 


hns made my i ay so happy I must 


‘Mnwssi 


from 


the rest. 


Friday, January 16th, 1959 


Memorandum : 

Such a remarkable day, what with a dazzling 
sun in a cloudless sky and a thermometer that never 
got out of the 30 's and will sag to 14 tonight. 

I began the day by reporting to the telephone 
company that there was some imperfection in the 
receiver of my 'phone. I was somewhat 
impressed by the speed of the repair service when I 
was told a representative of that department would 
call ,on me at 8 S30. He arrived dt 4, and thqt 
wasn t too surprising. But when he did get here, 
he had a new instrument, perhaps as a peace 
c offering .. It looks like* the only one in many 
.respects but has some new elements. ?or instance, 

The numbers are not within the circle of each 
slot but outside each slotand are white 
numbers on a black field, and so, o course, 
do not move when the slots are turned to call 
Hie wire from the instrument to the receiver 
is a black coil, perhaps Q inches in length 
and thus far coils up automatically when the 
receiver is on the x instrument. Another 
innovation has to do with the bell. Slap under the 
machinpis something I cannot see but can feel and you 
push it one way apd the sound of the bell is deafening 
in its clatter and when you reverse the thing, you can 
tone down the ring to the vanish point or any tone between 
clatter and silence. If it only had 
some gadaet enabling you to shoot dead the party- 
liners who keep one from using the thing it would be 
perfect. 

About 9 :30 this morning, somebody tapped on 
my door, on opening, I found a man there and so I 
ppined to him that he was bound to be the telephone man 
a nd to walk right in. Well, it wasn t the telephone 
man but he entered anyway. It was Randolph Jones, 


a num 


ib^T'i 






J.a'.St.— 


1 






From the FRANCOIS HlGNON PAPERS. #M~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9677 


9676 


Sunday, Jantiary 18th, 1959. 


did his ife joined us a couple of seconds later, I never havin 
found out where she had been lost, Randolph is 
a brother of ill of the opulent Jones planter 
dyanasty, Randolph wanted to know who built the 
house they own, —the old Francois Robiaux house and 
I could help him. 1 he real object of the mission or 
the one more pressing, perhaps, was what his wife had to say, 
to wit, that there is to be a gathering of all the 
, teachers of color on the 29tli and the Committee had 
exp eased the hope that I might be the guest speaker to 
figure in this educational gathering representing a 
flock of Parishes, I said 1 w a s flattered and wondered 
on wh.at topic they would like me to perform, anything l 
wanted to say would .suit them and there was no limit 
on the time allowed, showing clearly they didn t suspect 
my "gift for g a b". 1 pointed out, however, 

that I Rad an appointment for that day, — a lie, -but 
I instinctively felt it well to leave an escape hatch open, 
using the impending conference on The National Trust 
a t a bout fhat samp date, until I had had an opportunity to 
check on a couple of points t telling the lady 

I would telephone her. I did check this evening and discovered 
the Citizens Council is whipping up a big business a bout 
purging the polls in the iJ atchitoches area forthwith and 
for the sake of h enterprise, it would, probably be 
much wiser not to have the author of the Cane Piver Memo 

sharing the news in the local press, and s? 

I shall probably decline, clinging to The Rational 
Trust as a convincing reason, although only you 
a nd James can imagine with what regret I submerge my 
own inclinations for the greater calm and prob a bly 
greater advantage all a round again** future drives in 
the right direction. 

• *■' 

And then the Welfare Deprtment began kicking over 
the traces. At long last, somebody in that department 
heard a bout the Plantation Primitive note paper and 
descended on Millspaugh's for particulars. 
referred them to me and as soon as they were out of the 
store, very kindly tele phoned me. T, in turn, 
telephoned the artist, reminding her that she never gets 

Apl'a cfc r o7 ^h em *t he ty§:If ah °^eparimeift must think 

‘___ C!u. U¥( ,.i t - ^ ..... ■————— 


Memorandum : 

How nice to find a letter from Lyme in 
Saturday's post. 

I love to keep up with little Miss Lee's calendar 
which strikes me as just as busy as e.ver even though 
there are variations in the program. And 
I do hope you found the little one doing better and 
I shall be glad to hear how Grandma is making out 
with her charges. 

) • ■ ‘ \ ■ ■ • ■ * i, t 

. I have been trying to think of the identity 
of the Haney you mentioned but haven't succeeded 
thus far. I am so glad to have particulars regarding 
the Kimbrough opus for I haven't as yet been successful 
as yetin tracking it down although I have combed the 
air w a ves mightily at the hour you indicated and 
subsequent ones both on the same day and subsequent 
days, hoping for a re-braodcast, even as I occasional ly 
to my delight discover an invitation to learning 
re broadcast in s ome remote station or other, — Chicago, 
sometimes, during the week . You mayreadily 
imagine how I should like to hear these and think I 
shall w rite good old *mily to see if I can t do something 
bout getting them put on Talking Book records, as 
^in tli6cci>86 of Iiiv i tut i oil to Lcuviiing but not ill 
the Fddiman Coversations when the Library of 
Congress advised me these were not educational 
a statement of stupidity I had neve-r expected, not even 
from a politician. 

Our cold snap continues but we still have lots of 
sunshine and x re promised a dab of warming for the morrow 
but another blast of Arctic air for Tuesday. It 
seems as though the Arctic is quite active this year, 

I was interested in what, you had to see of preparations 
made for the reception of Mr. 2 from yebond 
the seas What a clever fellow he seems to be. I 
hold, the thought he may learn much more than 
our big shot3 seem to have gained from his visit. 








Francois Mignon Papers, #11-5889 


9679 


9678 


You will be vastly relieved to learn that I 


Monday, January 19th, 1959 


Memorandum; 

Ho, ho hum . Everything somehow got 

turned around, even the weather, and the 30 degree chill 
got lost in a spanking Julf breeze keeping the thermometer 
up to, 60 tonight and the rain we were slated for has given 
way to moonbeams of major brilliance. 


It s a State holiday-, too, --Robert E, Lee's brithday, 
but only ttie banks and State offices are closed for such 
anniversaries and nobody mentioned Edgar Allen Poe as 
having been born 1 50 years ago today, —nobody but CBS 
which gave an a 2I too brief portion of the recording by 
Basil Rathe bone of TheRaven, magnif iciently rendered, 

And on the home front, I exercised a woman's rights 
and reversed myself on appearing before the convention 
of teachers of color. In pursuance of my 

plea of previous engagement, the offici a l3 of the impending 
conclave went into a huddle and then got in touch with me, 
saying that they would re-arrange their plans for the convention 
to suit my convehience if I would honor them as guest 
speaker whenever I might chose. 


And so, assuming my presence would mean as much 
to them as all this seemed to indicate, I decided to 
let the Citizens Council make what they could of it and 
after the proper interval, during which I supposedly re¬ 
arranged my own calendar, I advised them that I would 
accept their invitation to be their guest speaker on the 89th 

And at *ackie's house, there was a reversal of 
economy from r a gs to riches when Jackie, 1 know not how, 
received nine hundred dollars insurance in consequence 
of her accident and this evening I noticed a TV aerial 
being erected high a bove her cabin. Whether a car will 
also be purchased, as the artist had envision, I know not. 








■S 


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9680 




9681 


As for doings across the fence, everything there seems 
nothing so much like an unending series of sunbursts. The 
fictional Cotton Council meets in Atlanta sometime early 
in February and the ladies appear; jubilant at the prospect of 
going places. Madam Regard hasn t expressed herself as 
feeling so fine in months, evpn flippgh she is going only 
a s far as Man aura and there is much talk about going to 
town to the beauty parlor and d ea ven knows what all I 
am doing what I can to give Madam Regard a hand, —not in 
the beauty parlor but in the correspondence field. he has 
several letters, mostly to her pet priests, w to whom she 
wants to write before her departure but has no time to 
get these out of the w a y for she says it takes her so long to 
write a letter. She accordingly asked me today when we 
were alone momentarily if I couldn t write these for her and 
slip them to her'when nobody was home so that she might 
copy them long hand and thus be s a ved the time and rigor 
of composition .. I could. And so tonight in my 

new role of a lady in her 0O's corresponding with her pet priests, 

I shall knock off the letters and keep them m my pocket so 
I may hand them to our sweet little old friend whenever 
the opportunity arises. 

Carmen 'phoned me this afternoon Mer voice was 
so he a vy with cold I could scarcely understand her. *he is 
complaining o pleurisy which really must be severe m her case 
as she attended but one card party over the entire week end and 

greater proof could not be trotted out than such 

A note from Martin Hir,sch today made plain how little he comprehA 
the workings of the arti3t s mind. Martin remarked 

that in view of all the odds and ends in piece goods he has given the 

artist, he feels she wouldn't mind making him a Cane «iver 
Gobelin of design parallel to those she has done for others. 

The artist is one who believes that if someone gives her something, 
the transaction if completed but Martin will have to 
find that out from Carolyn since 1 propose to have nothing whatso¬ 
ever to do in Gobelins for the Hirsches. 

I'm still relishing your account of the Kimbrough programs 
and have written her about getting the Library of Congress to 
make them available for Talking »ooks and I lave also written 
three major Columbia stations within the reach of my radio to 
see if the programs themselves cannot be brought within reach . 


Tuesday, January 20th, 1959. 


Memorandum : 

Surprisingly enough, it was Christmas all over 
again at the Post Office this morning, in spite of the 
thermometer standing in the 70's, bright sunshine and 
a mighty brisk winde blowing up from the ulf. Ihe 
fact is that the Postman handed me a surprise package from 
Lyme and the splendid collections of wheels and reels 
contained therein guarantees me no end of material on 
which to puusue my l a bors in the recording section.. 

It's such a snug feeling to know there is,a supply on 
hand, ample to carry me through the balance of-the year, enabling 
me to make use of the tape recorder without the slightest 
need for giving thought to conservation of the material and 
so enabling me to lay in a store of particulars making it 
possible for me to consult same whenever I have occasion to 
turn to this wonderfully convenient reference library. Praise 
God and bless little Miss Lee for providinging-another 
S a voir's birthday slcp in the middle of January. 

Today the racket along the Yucca front ha s been event louder 
than yesterday, what with the breeze from the Mouth batting 
the gourds suspended from the gallery s ceiling endlessly. 
TheVeazher Bureau speaks of a blizzard sweeping across north 
Texas, heading eastward but the Gulf breeze has 
kept it from dipping down this way since Sunday night 
but about tomorrow, the edge of the thing will brush this 
way, I suppose but I’m hoping most of the 
sleet and snow will have been drawn off[ to the north so 
that we may get the cold without zhedevaszation that too 
often accompanies January blizzards. 

I a m writing at 9:30 andthe contrastxXr of 
weather conditions locally to those to then orth m the 
Oklahoma-Arkansas area is impressive, for while 
the wind howls and. the snow flies up yonder, here 
‘he Utermpmeter is in the mid 60 s and the moon radiant but 

t >P r f<vMififhm.tggZ h (n r ttt°oj}i!gV me tt,at 

1 * Vv- • >\ , _ 0". p* 









Francois Mignon Papers, #11-3889 


The enclosure speaks for itself. I am puzzled 
a little by the thanks for the dinner which I did not give but 
perhaps it was more an expression of gratitude for the 
atmospheric fare than actual food. It is good to know that 
there is some realization a bout the futility of futures 
in the endless embryonic projects but 1 was disappointed 
at the , statement that is is too cold to shoot any flew Orleans flight 
pictures. The temperatures in flew Orleans of 1 te have 
ranged nightly in the 50 's and 60's which doesn t strike 
me as being too bitter when I consider the Natchitoches lights 
snapped in 20 tOt» 30 degrees lower, and a series of them in 
succession, in sltarp contrast to tlie convenience 
of St. Peter's Street in its proximity o± to *ackson 
Square where one might easily dash out for a shot and 
then da3h inside for another shot of a different order. Frankly, 

I can see no reason why all the flew Orleans flight pictures required 

outside those al ready to hand, should not be made right now 

30 that the book could go into production for the Spr ing 

trade. The Hatchitoches pictures would not h a ve been taken 

when.they were, had I not done some pushing and it 

a ppears I had better get busy and do some long range pushing 

for tl*e Crescent City ones if we are ever to get anywhere 

in that direction. 


In the department of physical exercise, I got quite a 
lot of gardening done today, making the most o the 
mild temperatures to do some transplanting and if we 
qet some rain, as promised, on the morrow, that blessing from 
o)» high will set the seal on the success of that operation. 

• 

Immediately after supper, tonight, I sat down 
while awaiting the news, and knocked off a column to 
remove the feeling of"must" that has been floating round on 


on* 


i 


i Historical 
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Col lection, 
TO 


9683 



Wednesday, January 21st, 1959 . 


Memorandum• 


to 


Fifty billion attempts would not suffice 
express my delight with today's post. I 
had frankly hoped it would not turn precisely a s it 
did but I understand perfectly your, point of view, 
just as I feel equally sure you appredated mine. I 
an quite sure, for example, if the situation had been re¬ 
versed and someone I had met through you had followed 
through in the same manner as did our mutual friend, you, 
also, would have instinctively re-acted even as I. And 
so we now come out equal, except that, as of the moment, 
at least, I seem to come out the winner and I must 
sav that delights me only half as much as it would 
if you were holding the lucky cards of Hamiltonian 
de3 ign. 

In such matters, —and I hope there may be no more, but 
in such matters, even as in all matters, let us always 
feel free to share such details . Heedless to say, I 
an vastly indbeted to you for having acquainted me with 
particulars, for had you Itpot, you can readily imagine 
how horribly distressed I should Itaue been, had the 
information come to me, even as it did, and I had not 
been braced to control fascial expressions. I shdl 
be most concerned- to learn if and when the matter is 
placed in.order as it should be. For the life of me, 
comprehend how a baeicly honest person can feel no 
twinge of responsibility, not only on her own account 
your account and mine as well. All I can say is that 
your nobility has shown through so m a gnificiently in all 
this transaction and, like the person who started 
the whole business, I can only say that "really, 
she is the sweetest character in thewhole world . 

The cold snap we were supposed to get Monday 
arrived today. It,passed over Shreveport at 2 :06 this 
morning and by 6:0 2, --I love those juxtaposition 
numbers, —in those four hours the thermometer had 
dropped 42 degrees. It arrived ^here about 5:30 
with much thunder and a little rain and then the skies 


I canno ' 
but 










From che FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M"3889 in Che Souchern Hiscorical Collecdon, 

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r.8ae 


9684 


MM 


9685 


.Thursday, January 22nd, 2959. 


cleared and in spite of the sun it remained cold. Tonight 
it will s a g into the middle teens and as T have more warm 
clothing than I know what to do with, 1 shall fare very 
nicely. 

If you had written you were on the trail of a job, 
you would be approximating a bout what I got when reading 
your account of the theatre for Mark read of the job and 
the trail, never dreaming he was reading about the Trials o f Job. 

I am so glad you got to see this piece and I was interested in 
it from the time heard it mentioned among 6 or 7 others as 
being those constituting the cream of this year's theatrical crop. 
You mentioned Massey as the lead and I had not realized he was 
handling the part. As for the author, I.always am interested 
in his name, especially as it recalls his a ssociation withF. D. R. 
a nd his connection with early Talking Book programs. 

I sound as though I were saying, "i told you so", but 
I honestly was not surprised when I learned that yesterday Dr. 

Wenk had to be operated on a gain, for I had thought it the height 
of folly for a patient w^th such an operation to be allowed 
to go flying a bout out of the. hospital. Of course he somehow 
nodded his head toomuch in his auto riding or whatever and the 
jaw operation had to be re-done. He was very uncomfort a ble, which 
I can imagine. cannot imagine,,however, why he as a 
physician would think of such flying r bout and how the hospital 
physicians would countenance such a thing. It is said, 
on, the gossip side, that his father, said to be an honest man, 
declares his son had madq scads of money that is salted away while 
Sister swears.they haven t a nickle. It is said further, and 
on excellent authority, that she does seem to find enough to 
invest heavily in fire warter and to consume same, and that 
must be agreat help, psycho logically, for her blind and 
battered husband. Of course the children have had their 
mother '3 number for several years and if all this doesn t go 
into to make a perfect setting for Bleak House, then I cannot 
imagine anything that could. Long before reaching maturity, 

I found myself fascinated by combinations being formed and 

patterns taking shape and often I was curious to see how in the 

end they w ould ,al 1 pan out. In.the present case, however, I 

must say I don t seem abl$to work up the slightest 

fascination as to how tlte whole thing will end up for 

every tragedy, to be good,.requires an occasional dash of comedy and 

in this improbable theatrical piece, I can t find any of the latter. 

now. mehgmfffto f h &t 1 VJ'r$ 0 £tfbut i 1 ^ let this slide for 


Memorandum : 

I suppose every day Brings fo\th about the usual 
number of unexpected things but we remark upon them with 
more concentrations some days than others. 

For instance, I was just trying to get some news and 
found myself on a station of utter clarity which turned out to be 
Station VRCA which made Manhattan seem much closer than Natchitoches, 
so far as reception was concerned 

From the weather report, 1 gather you are getting about 
the same temperatures we are but perhaps without the sunshine and 
moonlight. Our skies are cloudless but the thermometer couldn t 
struggle a bove the freezing mark today and it will be fcout 2 5 tonigh 
at its low point. 

1 \ ^ * > • *• , * *' * 

For some reason, the Natchitoches papers, —both of them, —were 
put on a train heading North Rather than South last night and 30 
.there was no delivery of same today in this area. I did 
get some notion as to what was remirk a ble about The^imes ot today, 
however, —the paper which has been beating the hill billy 
drum.with a vengence and supporting the idea of ... + 

a poll purge of about 90 percent of the voters. In view 0 this act, 
it was certainly surprising to see a letter denoucing this 
.hill billy plan, slap on the front page of the Time, and 
the letter of denunciation signed by none other than little 
Miss Dornon of Briarwood.. It tyas all as surprising 
as though one picked up the Herald Tribune and found a letter from 
President Eisenhowev d enouncing millionaires in general 
and the National Manufacturers Association in particular. 

I must pen Carrie a letter with a salutation something like. 


Dear Jeanne d'Arc. 

Mu day was vastly cluttered^up by unexpected visitors, including 
three teachers of color fromSt. athew s School, guided by the 
artist. At long last, it has dawned on the school that even 
though the artist ma.y not read or write, she is adding 

. . , . , « . , a q. -AJ. ©£0 4 03 > \ V ’'A. L 0 i 1 l 

distinction-to the race and the ladies came to see if they could 
borrow pictures for ’ an, exhibiton during the convention next week. Ihey 





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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 




9686 


9687 


• 

Two or three years ago, more than one school teacher denied 
ever having heard of the artist although they had been neighbors all 
their Hues. How, apparantly, that snobbery has been 
cracked andlittle Hiss Hunter will be among those present 
a t the convention and the world takes a step forward 
in common sense and the humanities. 

Three hours after the departure of that contingent, the 
artist telephned me agax n to say the Welfare field worker was there 
and asked if she might cofer with me. &he,might. And so the 
q rti3t guided Iter to my door and departed and I put on quite 
an act for the Welfare Department, attempting for the millionth time 
to find out if the artist is making money out of the several 
artistic enterprise with which her name is connected. I g dragged 
out the "old shoes", on the theqry hat an exchange 
of second class merchandise in lieu of cash would break no 
Welfare rules and thus that battle was won without.any difficulty 
dL though I must confess,, and I'm a little shame-faced to think of i/", 

I did indulge in a bit oL shouting to make performance 
more unpleasant if not more persuasive. After quitting Yucca, 
the Welfare representative went to the home of the artist and 
told her the Department never wanted to discourage her from 
painting and to go right ahead as it would always be alright. 

J. H. and Dan, with two of their gentlemen friends, 
were up and in the big road before 7 this frosty morning, 
heading for Hew Orleans and q couple of days at the races. I find it 
remarkable that when one isn t forced to be flying all over the map on 
business, one will fly all o er the map on pleasure. A quiet 
evening at home for them would be one of the minor tragedies 
of existence, I suppose, oh, brother, if only a tenth 
of that energy expended on tearing up and downt he road, 
were spent on creative work at home base. 

• • 1 

I was asked by the artist about the Socket Uirl 
who had told us she would be passing this way on Wednesday or Thursday. 
And that reminds me that one of my untutored friends passed 
this way today, a youth in his 20 's, to tell me his folks had 
heard from his sister, livina in Houston, who had written that 
she would be .making a Pound "on the first Friday after December". I 
must repeat that to James who will be a ble to pin it very 
neatly on the Socket iO-irl, I believe. Per¬ 
sonally, 1 should like to confer with Ola Mae since I have three project, 
in color printing I should like to present to her and 1 believe 
I can do business in that direction . 


Friday, January 25rd, 1959. 


Memorandum: 

• A. • J ' ■ * ’• • 

, More sunshine but lingering ice but the thermometer 
is gradually rising and it appears the week end will be 
pleasant enough, — outside, anyway. 

J. H. has been in Hew Orleans for a couple of days 
attending the races. Last night Lloyd telephoned from 
Shreveport. He said his mother and the three children were 
coming down for. the week end while their father would stay 
with his parents. They were expected for supper tonight 
and supper was prepared b t only the clerk and I supped 
together, about an hour after sundown I sau) the big house 
illuminated so I suppose the posse arrived. Perhaps Celeste 
ling. 

_n example today of what people see in the papers. 
ned yesterday thatthe Hatchitoches Times carried 
a letter on its front page by little Miss Dormon, I 
asked Carmen, a most thorough newspaper reader, if she 
had seen yesterday's Times. She had but said there -.was 
nothing in it by or about Carrie. I told her I must 
h„ve been im mis-informed^. She .telephoned me this 
aft ernoon to Fell me that while at home for lunch, she had 
made it a point to go through the paper very carefully 
on my behalf, even though .her sister, to whom she had telephoned 
to save the paper, had done so before -.she had arrived, and 
that there was indeed nothing at all from the mistress 
of Briarwood. ..... 

Thinking l had better inquire again from Mrs. Walker, I 
did os, expecting her to say it was he Shreveport Times, but 
she siad it was on the front page of the Hatchitoches 
times. At supper, I a sked the clerk if he had read the Hatchitoches 
Times last night and .he said he had but that as he did not like 
the first sentence of Carrie's letter, he had gone no further. I 












shall l^ave a clipping of the letter for enclosure shortly, 
the subject matter being so unexpected from such a quarter, 
and the letter itself so elusive to an experienced reader 
like Carmen. . 


You will enjoy the enclosure from Virginia Dennard. 

I think she writes well. She is a grand number and 
I know you are going to agree one day when you meet her. 

Of course Carolyn never showed up and neither did Ola M ae . 

I want to do business with the latter. X have two or three 

projects I want to work on with Ola Mae. One of . 

these is to get out an attractive gift bo x containing 

hriciga scor e and tally sheet, the decoration being the 

thing that will sell them. For some time, a Williamsburg, Va., 

set has been sold from Williamsburg only a nd has flitered 

all about the country. I want to stir up a crash program 

with Ola Mae, wherein, if possible, we bring out at the same 

twist of the wrist identical sets of these scor e pads and t ally sheets 

one bearing Matches houses for decoration ai 

Hatchitoches-Cane River houses, a third bear i 

Francisville places, another the plantation 

neighborhood of Mew rleans, another with the Weeks Mall 

domains''fo r t he M e w Iberia trade and souvenir folks visiting 

there, and then a whole flock.of like gift boxe3 for 

the Texas cities such aS San Antonio, —a vast bridge center, 

Houston, Austin, Dalla3, etc., and in the majority of these 

individua cities include at least a smattering <yf the gift boxes 

typifying the others, and I believe with Ola M a e s 

organisation to turn these out, we might do t quite well 

in a crash program, especially if they all could be released 

on or a bout the same date. 

interruption . 

When I contemplate the vast hordes of people I know deovting 
their waking hours to bridge, it seems to me the a.bove idea might 
'be worth giving a modest try. 

The interruption was John Wenk. It seems the posse is 
here, plus a guest or two brought with them. Imagine bringing 
guests. John and one of the young men wanted to go to Red River 
on foot, thanks to the fine, full moon, but needed some matches. 

of pf&iwSOdiSfifnffWfiingnfuQffyig under wa U and there be ° measure 


in the Southern Historical Collection, 
REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
IE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


p »s • 

This machine goes to Alexandria for repairs on Tuesday 
Uj t-cJI/T, 'iJ cl IriV*—- 


Sunday, January 25th, 1959. 


Memorandum: 

Sugh beautiful weather, —pure Spring with cloudless skies, 
dazzling sunshine, drenching moonlight with the thermometer 
playingaro und 70. , u j 

Saturday was psalm singin' time to dead mules, three 
sessions, each lasting a little over two hours ioitfy Sister doing 
most of the chattering a nd me casting an occasional thunderbolt. 

The problem of the Wenk menage is two fold, the doctor on the 
physical side. Sister on the mental. You can readily grasp 
how difficult it is to,do a ything with Sister, by way of 
a foundation for the doctor to get adjusted when I tell yo 
that she explained to me the reason she had come down here 
the children and some youth to boot'was because she wanted 
n qet even " with the doctor. He h a d left the hospital and 
gone home to stay with his parents for a °°»ple of **)/*• 

^is^tmerho^and Tste ftlke? ulTerself and offspring ajid ^ 
out for here for the week end sb that in case the doctor felt a n impulse 
to go to his own home to be with his family, he would find 
them all gone and the house deserted. ^ 

She was not drinking but l’m never q ite sure if that makes 
things easier or more difficult. With a measure of pride, she told me 
how much satisfaction she got out of writing and telephoning 
people who had sent flowers, pointing out to them that if 
they felt some uncontrol a ble impulse to squander money so foolishly, 
they would, show more sense by sending the money to the Lighthouse * or tin 
Blind.. Like one of her younger brothers, she seems to feel area* 
satisfaction in alienating as many people as possible and divesting 
herself of as many friends, if any, as possible. She can t 
be put in an asylum but she may be able to put a lot of 
other people there. You can readily understand how 







From the FRANCOIS NiGNON PAPERS, #H~ 5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


CP* 


9691 


9690 


difficult it is to guess where cay start toward correcting 
matters can be. 


Monday, January 26th, 1959, 


ays the doctor's right hand is broken between the wrist and knuckles 
several ribs. She says a "renoveqble cast" has been put on the 
broken right hand so he can slide if off to shake hands with 
people. The ribs haven't been attended to yet. Whether this be , 

all lies, I know not, but I must say I never heard of a removeable cast. 

The right eye is gone and he can detect nothing but darkness when the 

brightest light is held to the left eye, the b a ck of which was all cut up. 
i she is hoping he may get his sight.back in this eye within 4 to 6 
iontb months. He still breathes through a tube tin his neck and can 

take food only through another tube. The first automobile ride requir 
ed a second operation, repeating the first to put the work done by 
, the first and knocked out by the automobile ride, back 

into place. «:»d in view of all these c ircumstances,. she 
• flies out of the home, taking the children with her so in 

casehe returns there, he will have the disappointment 

of finding the place empty. I need scarcely<.add, I was enchanted 

they dll headed back for Shreveport. I even wish they had gone earli 

earlier before Lloyd, busy all day witrJhiS gun,i had shot 
so many cardinals, mocking birds and warblers m the gardens • 

But in spite of all this Bedlam, I had quite a 
• nice week end, impossible as that may be to 

imagine. Frances Henry and her new husband, Louis Pirkie, 
passed this way onSaturday morning for a brief call. 6 he 
is a selfish b a g, Frances, but always pleasant and her 
husband very pleasant, T did quite a lot of work 
Saturday night f the Library having sent me nothing to 
read. , 

, And today was so' pleasant, it was a joy to stroll 

-bout, the g ardens drinking in the promise 
of spring and making plans for gardening in the days 
just ahead. I also enjoy formulating some further 
plans to present to Ola M ae for inclusion in a flock 
of creations I have been turning over in my mind, and I shall 
jot down some of these before folding up my beard so that 
they may be readily available when Ola ^ae shows up. 

I shall touch on one or two of these points in sub¬ 
sequent memos from t ime to time, •Lyme has 
loomed so large in my thoughts this week end, as held the 
thought there might be sunshine in that quarter, too...... 


Memorandum : 

Vaguely, it seems to me, I remember having made 
a Hew Year's resolution- to the effect that 1 ought 
to stop beefing my assoc iates and acquaintances. Fortunately, 
you g a ve' me a special dispensation to break this fine 
resolve and so I shall h'ave<. a mild go at Hudolph. 

•V ' \\\, . • s ■ 1 « '• 

I was gently provoked and vastly surprised when 
he appeared last night unannounced. He said that 
-when he had envisioned a few days off during mid¬ 
term, he decided he would make a journey around the circle, 
going to Beaumont, Melrose and thence back to his 
starting point. A post card would have been so easy and 
a telephone from Beaumont or even from Natchitoches, for 
he came up from Beaumont passed Hodges hardens, Many, 
Hatchitoohes and thence to this spot. He knows better 
but disregarded that knowledge. 

Well, we chatted untii midnight and conversation 
wasn't too brisk. I tried to think of lots of 
questi ns while he talked and conversation is never good 
when one, instead of paying a ttention, is busy formulating 
another question, any old question, as soon as the talk 
ceases . 

a ut the moon was pretty and when I took him 
over to the big house, he carried Mrs. Moore's book 
with him to nead» He departed this morning after 
breakfast and 9 o'clock coffee. I tried to be 
hospitable and hope ,1 succeeded in a measure but obviously 
anything forced isn .t of too excellent quality. I 
am ashamed to say I heard nothing of •interest Wild 
learned nothing about anything I cared. 

' , ‘ 

Father **ilson of the Congregationalis't ^hurch or rather 





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9692 



9693 


tUe Episcopal L hurch called me this noon, asking 
if lie might make a- little round this afternoon, I 
ioa3 delighted to see him and we covered vast t racks 
of su ject matter. The thing which seemed to 
delight us both is the surprise John XX111 pulled 
on the Sacred College by turning out to be something 
other than an interim Pope, I do believe the 
Poftiff himself would have chuckled if he could 
have heard what we had to say bout the impressi on he 
is making on us. I thought father Wilson made 
one wise observation, to wi , that if there were to be 
a ny criticism of Pope Pious, it would be that he 
was jhst a little too austere, since too much asuterity, 
like too much indulgence, doesn t always condition a man 
to share the feelings of his flock to the greatest 
advantage. Surely there must be some happy medium 
between a Renaissance Pope Q nd a Mayf11 ower Pilgrim, 
and that, I suppose, is where John XX111 comes in, —and 
I hope he stays forever. 

t 

The enclosure is gay and informative. 1 hadn't heard, 
of the Birdsell business and his method of promoting 
Southern culture, as for the Socket Cirl and the 
'■Lost Word, they did not pecisely surprise me be 
being in .'few Orleans when I had been given to 
understand -1 would be’seeing them in the 
middle r of last week. I might h a ve seen 
them Sunday nighf, were one to suppose they 
actually did leave theCresoent u ity, which I should 
never suppose they did, if that was their intention 
on Friday night. Who can tell where they are and 
I only regret I had written Ola Mae in quite the 
fashion I did, which 1 might h a ve couched somewhat 
differently, if I had had a grain f common sense 
and recognised that a Mexican jumping b ean will 
never be at the spot where one supposes. 

e . r . >. . . ^ ^ ' ■ i 11 • 1 V ' i i ^ ,•, 0 1 ^ 

,, The day was so beautifully springlike 
and tonight the moon is glorious. It i 3 at 
Shines, tonight, that a big wake is being engineered,— 
Sli.me s name being so magnificiently a c ounterpart of 
tonight s lunar extravaganza. n*e lady being 
waked" was waked on Saturday night in Chicago, 
and sUYely should be thoroughly so by the hour of the 
funeral on the morrow...... 


If 




e no s'fTlo 


orta ’ 






■ S 9. 1 . . VrtS £.1 

Tuesday, January 27th, 1959* 

r\£~- * ,■ 





Memorandum: 

Lol A substitute Roayl, as you see, as a stand-in for 
the other Royal which today went to the clinic. 

• 

I am tired tonight because I was annoyed by a conversation 
with Thelma this morning who called me to say that Carolyn had 
been given the. contract to to the Hodges Gardens film, and 
in the next sentence, rushed on to say that "Carolyn is 
a schemer for after having had dinner here with us at the college the 
other dvr and viewing some of her movies, she rushed out and Jumped 
into her car and flew over to Hodges Cardens and got Mr. Hodges 
to sign the contract 1 


I let her rattle oni» but, as I have probably already reported on 
that particular afternoon Carolyn came here a nd could not possibly h a ve 
gone to Hodges Gardens. ®ut what if. she had and how would that make a 
schemer out of her? I think 1 am not unmindful of Carolyn's 
start comings but I am even more mindful of Thelma's when she makes 
up such tales out of whole cloth. They are so pointless, unless 
one^understands that she and Carmen seem to be painfully Jealous 
of arolyn's newspaper success in the oast in handling local 
material. . • T - ».•••■ 

Thelma went (^t^on* say ^r. Hodges would appear with one or two 
of his staff at the President's resideneg onPriday at 2:30 a nd she 
wanted Norm a n Fletcher, ^resident of the hamber of Commerce, Eugene 
Watson, President of the Old F orfc.and me, --President of nothing, 
to Join in the conference, based on how. best to tie in w atchitoches 
and Hodges Garden into a film. I lied and said I yould be there but 
I h a ven t the slightest intention of going. 

: p i ,s."•>•' ‘r. w I bad ed *t- ' 

Having left the door.open to Friday's conference by the lie that 
I might be expected, 1 set about to discover who would be there 
to restrain any brickbats Thelma might cast at Carolyn's status 
while M r. Hodges was her guest. I telephoned M rs. Walker at her 


i 





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9694 


office, told her of the Friday invitation and suggested she call 
°harlie Phillips in the Hodges Shreveport office on some trumped 
up matter about a column and see what she could find out without 
mentioning any one's names on her side of the 'phone talk. Ten 
minutes later, she called, giving me exactly what wanted to know, to 
with, that Carolyn and Charlie would be with Hr. Hodges . And so, 
now that I know Carolyn will be there to look after her own interests, 

I can carry through my lie by absenting myself, but tonight I 
shall write Ola M ae , outlining a project for \vo rather than one 
film to be sponsored by Mr. n odges r --one on the gardens, the 
other on Natchitoches, so contrived as to serve primarily as a 
glorified guide post to the gardens. 

Carmen called me a bout 8 tonight to.say she had attended 
a meeting of the °oard of the Hysterical Mies at the old Leme ® Hous ® 
where they had been addressed by M r . Morrison b he was favorably impressed, 
primarily, * have no doubt, because he had mentioned his 
acquaintance with her brother, a B a tonRouge lawyer. Mr. Morrison 
addressed the Hons Club and the 1 otary Club and noon, appears 
somewhere tonight, will have a couple of hours with me tomorrow 
and then address the graduating class at the college tomorrow night* 

It Is supposed to rain tomorrow and he may see Yucca a nd the African House 
in a storm but that will only make the murals appear more colorful 
and the important thing it to cox* convey a fqVorable impression 
so the word may be passed along to the yj^shington office prior 
to their "arch visit on their own hook, 
t. r -or, .ft .© VS ' "■:> ^ IC>.'■ • 

Incredible as it does seem, I am still getting gourd letters 
as a result of last October's Picayune-article, one letter 
in yesterday's post from Kentucky, 2 in today's post. 

Irr :r> ■ . 

*nd speaking of Kentucky, it was only this week I learned from 
Madam Regard that it was her father who organized and manufactured 
the famous Old Grand D a d whiskey. She mentioned the man who 
livecfonher father's place in the country, somewhere outside of 
Louisville who served as the model for the face used on the l a bel 
for so many years and the statue erected in Louisville to his 
memory. . ' 

My former secretary, M r . Brew, was over from Houston on ninday but 
I did not see him. The cook told me he was a t her house just before 
her boy left for college and said M r . Brew had told her son 

that he had learned most of what he had from me. Imagine^ _ 

the Lestan College for "thopians. Smile...... 

-,-f 1 •’ -7 v *T9v~'0e Mi -if ,t-v , 1 't ■ ■ >.■> • 

Butfede B'nyOieC .is iaso ante?* ada<f>to.H { ii« 


9695 




. Wednesday, January 28th, 1959. 

Sr's ebe*8 twuon e#oe "iSf evi' 
loon sew (sr>Aov :roy t 


. 




•i ji 


•irAi bi' 




»unc 


f’h 


r-r 


p\i 




Memorandum: 


.’ C: 


1,60 


The poor weather prognostocators could be wrong and, it is 
pleasant to report that the rain they promised never materialized 
but, on the contrary, blue skies and dazzling sunshine obtained all day. 


I 


rf 


• 

My morning was a busy one but just why, I don't seem to remember, 
he afternoon was busy, too, and that somehow seems clearer. I turned the 
place upside down at noon a nd somehow managed to plunge through 
a bath before 2*30, feeling instinctively as one must who 
knows the local ropes, that one had better.be pretty well braced 


ot! 


rV- 


S’ ’ 


for 


£n P9>IIb 


t*»fioriqe la tf 


asv 


90- 


for a. three o'clock appointment by 2*30. 

• .I.fr ! . . ' rif ' . i j.'-.v . i : '• ' 

^nd so, at 2*30, that person with a perfect genius for appearing 
always just before an appointment put in an appearance. "Blythe 
arrived with l a F rantz. Tie came in by the sugar pot at the same 
moment was appearing from the African House by that gate. She 
said I apparently was expecting someone. I told her was and 
identified.the expected guest and, quite contrary to 
my re-action under similar circumstances, she not only 
came in for a prolonged visit but remained until long, 
after 3* 

e:> ’ • o - ■' ’> • 

Mr. Morrison arrived via the house across.the fence, —we 
must give that house a name, - accompanied by g couple of ladies, 
a nd Celeste piloted them over here. After presentations and chit-chat, 
Celeste and Blythe and Joan withdrew and I put Mr. Morrison 
through his paces; He is a pleasant man, slightly on the legal 
side as is natural, since he is a lawyer, and seemingly a little 
exposed in that he hasn^V a hair on his nice, shiney b a ld head. 

1 -i noi*r> •’ vt N . 

- 1 gather my efforts to "sell him the Afriean buildings was 
a success for his curiosity e bout them impelled him 
to return for another go-round after the tour had 
come to an end. I think it important this should h a w been 
achieved.since, as repr esentative of the National Trust in Louisiana, 
he will be hearing ,bout these buildings from other members of that 
corporation when they come down from ashington in arch. 




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9696 


Sometime along the way, the artist telephoned me in a terrible 
hoarse voice, asking if 1 would give her some gourd seeds as she 
wanted to plant some this very day. K ow what do you reckon she was cooking 
up. I told her 1 knew she hadn t lost her mind and wasn^t dreaming 
of planting gourd seeds in J anuary and she giggled and^that was 
that and I returned to the bdpther of the tew rleans ayor. 

Along about 5, Just after M r . Morrison had departed, the 
artist called again, saying Dr.T a lly, —of New rleans,—wanted to know 
if she could come to see me. I remarked that since everybody else 
had made the grade since w noon. she might Just as well. I h a d a 
pleasant chat with her. he had talked with the lady doctor 
in town . H seems Don,"the latter's husband, is in bed 
with flu. 

' if) i . ■ ! r m 

• a t 7*30 tonight, °la "ae telephoned, tee had 
not received a special delivery letter had sent her this morning. 

I didn't ask her where Carolyn might be. tee said the contract had not 
been signed as yet, and Carolyn wanted to see me on Friday 
morning beofre the afternoon conference, seeking advise. 1 h a ve much 
for her but shall give only pointers on films and not on 
personal responsibility, arrested developement and estreme 
carelessness „bout edgagering personal relations. 

. I was glad of the opportun ty to tell 01 a Mae that 1 
thought the Hodges conference with Thelma futile, that 
Hodges ought to make two films, one on the gardens, one on 
Natchitoches, the latter to use “atehitoches to point up his own 
domaine. She was impressed by the idea. I may be able to put 
that over since 0i a "a© will be attending a Thursday night dinner 
with Mr. Hodges and associates, prior to F rid a y's conference 
at-the college. It will be a pleasure to bring i helm a down a peg 
or two although there.will be some satisfaction, too, but not so 
much in thus handing terolyn another film to do. Ola M ae 
hopes to see me either F riday night, following the college conference 
or aturday afternoon. 1 told her frankly • should prefer the 
teturday afternoon conference hour since we could go into things 
. alone while a *riday night conference would probahlx mean ( 

Carolyn would be present. h a ve no objection to a rolyn s 
presence except that she will naturally want to be talking 
about movie making while 1 want to devote myself exclusively 
toputlishing projects with which °l a “ae will be 
primarily concerned. *nd so tod„y unrolled, and now for 
some work and thence to a cat nap before a new day. 




9697 


Thursaday, January 29th, 1959. 


emorandum s 


iJlt: 


1 iv J 


Cloudy and a little on the cool side but not too 
cool. I'm hoping we may get some of the rain we are 
always being promised but never receive. 

. 

I a m enclosing a little African House, pinned on me when 
I arrived ah* the convention. I thought I saw one on 
the lapel of the Superintendent of Schooles, the only other 
white person prgsent. I gather it bears some writing, but 
I haven't seen ni hide, ni hair" or a secretary since 
my return from the meeting and so I know not what the thing 
m a y h a ve written on it and what the 2 or 3 sheets, handed 
me on my arrival, cover, but 1 assume they may constitute 
the program or ‘some such. 

There was some lovely psirituals at the beginning 
of the program which I could have listened to all afternoon. 

Randolph Jonee' wife introduced me very nicely, I thought, — 
a long-ish business covering three or four typewriter pages. 

Then * said my piece to the multitude and it seemed to go 
alright. It was followed ty so nice pieces supplied ty 
a small orchester of strings and piano, after which 
the Spperintendent spoke. H e is sjust b a ck from 
S a n F rancisco conference on Education attended by 
Dr. c onant of Harvard, and he divided his time in about 
equal *parts between Dr. Conant and me which sounded pretty 
funny as a sublime and ridiculous combination. I believe 
he probably arrived at the meeting with only a synopsis 
■of the “onant soeech before the s an F ra ncisco meeting and 
he used it, quoting at some length from it, for the 
last half of his address, prob a bly making use of „,y 
q r>pearance as something that might be on the less 
ponderous side for his listeners. People were very kind 
about coming to speak with me afterwards in the adjoining 
room where a lar^e displace of Cane iver plates, cook book, gourds, 
etc., and I found it surprisingly attractive, and of course found 
out why the artist was asking for gourd seeds yesterday when, in 
reality, she was probably fishing for gourds to give the 
commibteee on decorations. G offee and drinks on the lighter 
side were served and it was all very pleasant. 





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t* « 

hnao"' 

at i a 


9698 


For my text, I used the sentence from the Islandic manuscript 
of Norse mythology, stemming from sometime orior to the year 1,000.t 

" A he mind knows only what lies close to the heart". 

As Cane River cuts trhough the heart of the land of the Natchitoches, 

I went ahead and developed a quick survey of what probably lies 

close to our hearts in this area and the pattern of life developed 

along Canre ^iver in the economic and cultural growth of 

the region and the contributions made by the two races living 

in peace along the banks of the "river. 1 kept the thing 

in line with educational aspects ty stressing the necessity of 

knowing and imparting to the on-coming students the 

knowledge of whence we had come so make our understanding 

of the present a little clearer and our aspirations for the 

morrow more readily obtainable and touched on the point that 

c ane “iver might well supply a pattern for peaceful 

developement for many another section of this country and the world 

where hapDiness hasn t attended the grow of .communities to the 

extent it has in theCane iver country. 0*!T<T -vV 

The Board of Tiucation sent for the artist and me and 
the artist remained for other doings when 1 returned a bout 
U and promised to see her safely home, too. 

I. S. Wniard telephoned me just as I came in. ^he 
had come to town from L ake °h^rles to attend a meeting of 
the Hysterical ^adies at the Country ^lub. I shall hear more 
O bout that from G armen, c eleste, et al., on the morrow. I. s . W. 
wanted me to pass along wo^d to Carolyn on her behalf that 
should would like to have °arolyn occupy her house while 
in this area engaged in making the Hodges movie. I hope 
Carolyn has sense enough to accept although imagine she 
will be "spending more time at the gardens than in Natchitoches, 
a nd prob a bly more in M ew °rleans than in either place. 

H : l 

There was mail but nothing of much interest. Poor 
Madam w arco, as 1 understand it, wrote twice on the same 
page, indicating her valieant sprit is unquenchable even 
though her attempts at long hand, as in this instance, 
aren't too successful 

• »> • ••. .. i/ • i ■ .. 

And so I must get busy and knock off a few things tonight 
for tomorrow will probably be busy enough to prevent much 
concentration either on typing or gardening........ 


0071 ! 


\W 




9699 


Friday, January 30th, 1959. 


JT 




Memorandum: 

Dark, cloudy and sprikley all day long which always has a way 
of making in-doors seem the more cosey. 

Carolyn telephoned from ^hreveport at 10 to say 
she would so much like to see me before the meeting and 
would pass this way at 12. She was only half an hour late 
which was remark a ble. 

./ c -- <\ y'; c.. e:.%o 

She wanted to be at the President's residecne before the 2j30 
schedule and hoped to-run through a synoosis of the picture with me. 

We did run through it and to advantage since there were evidences 

she had stirred up her notes at breakneck sneed and the usual 

errors of pressure were to.be corrected, such as De Soto being 

put b.ck into the arms of ‘pain, out of the French camp in which she had 

pl a ced him, etc., etc. ^he drove me to town and as we both felt 

it wiser that we should arrive separately, 1 descended from her horseless 

carriage in town and moseyed up to the college half an hour later. 

John and ^helma received and we were 12 in number, ~ 
the host and hostess, Mr. Hodges, some b Q g who is President of some 
big society group of Shreveport who frightened me by saying Cammie 
is one of her most intimate friends, Mr. Reid, I believe, a second in 
command in Hodges enterprises, Charlie* Phillips, 0l a M a e w ord, 

Norman Fletcher, President of Chamber of Commerce, Eugene Watson 
to represetn Fort interests, I»egt a n to hold up Plantation interest, 

Carmen to reDresent Hysterical adies,C a rolyn to represent the film 

section and I guess that must fcbout 12 if I h a ven t forgotten 

s-meb-dy. Wte h a d coffee and cake in the big , somewhat softened mid Victorian 

darwing room and coversation drifted into an informal meeting. 

Mr. Hodges began the doings by taking frorn his gocket a copy 
Of the Cane iver Memo a bout "^bellishing the Crust ; saying 
he is one of my faitherful readers and that he had found the idea 
presented in the article to be of such interest to him that he would 
like to go into the matter a little. w e went into it. Then 
we got around to quickening interest in this region and starting 
a t his left, he suggested we go around the circle, each one voicing 
his individual .thoughts as to how best we might undertake a project 
which the movie itself might serve to further. I was in 
lV 5 k since 1 sat on his right so that I had the pleasure and benefit of 


i 








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9700 


9701 


all that everyone else had to say. When it came to me, I was dreaming 
of the outsie weather situation and watching the shadow of a bird flitting 
b a ck and forth outside the window. After a pause in the conversation 
I was asked if canted to exoress a thought and I seemed to 
surprise everyone by saying that Amen was the only impollant word I had 
to offer. Neryone laughed and then I did a two or three minute outline, 
expressing the idea that we should concentrate on an over all documentary 
. film, SDecializing in nothing but so constructing it as to enable 
tangent films to be-made on any one of a dozen subjects, merely 
toched on in the initail, over-all thing, —forestry, roads, 
flowers, historic markers and so on. 

After that we split up into.little knots for chit chat and 
Mr. Hodges came over where I was to say that I had ex ressed his 
thoughts so perfectly and so convincingly that he felt impelled 
to ask fra personal conference during the ensuing month where 
ever it might be convenient for me, —■ elrose, Hodges Gardens 
Natchitoches or Shreveport. I thought lU elrose would be 
fine. 

srf oJo<' gG Bp, jfofcii t -.f>a)Ao9T f> ©■ ; no - .■'juassl' W':" 

After more coffee, cake and chit-chat, Norman Fletcher and I 
left together, Norman driving me to ?he e nterprise where 
I wanted to pick up some stationary, —sample enclosed, and h a ve the 
Walkers drive me home. It was 6: U5 when I got here and my 
telephone was ringing, —the artist to tell me that during my 
absence, Martin Hirsh and party had come to see me during my absence. 

About 7 } 30 Carolyn called me from the town house to say she 
and Ola M a e were dining there and then returning to Shreveport andshe 
brought me up on whatever went on at the Kysers after my 
departure. She said there is a movie technitians show in 
K a nsas City on Sunday, Monday -find i uesday and so , n of course", she 
is flying up^there and will fly b„ck to Baton^ouge lpy Thursday 
to meet °la ae there for some conference. She c a n t stop 
running, obviously, not even to round up enough money to pay 
her personal debts. Ola M ae is supposed to return to 
Natchitoches tomorrow to go into some of my ideas on some creations 
and I shall under-line the fact that our N e w Orleans Night pictures 
are not being assembled, what with all this chasing about, 
and another project will be slipping through our fingers if 
we two don t bare down on this road-running mania of our associate. 

So today plays out and now I must get busy and 
pound this machine for a dab before sampling the air w a ves to 
see what has been going on in the world...... 


Sunday, February 1st , 1959. 

.rtod'irrodl.6 yRb'fiAte' rtO 


emorandum: 


Would you by any chance be able to tell me where 
January went and how it got into the limbo so speedily? 

Well, anyhoooo, January seems to h a ve gone and February got 
Started with a clammy drizzle which has been constant in the drip-drip 
a nd the l|0-ish thermometer readings. W e - a re promised the same for the morrow. 

Across the fence, just as we sat down to dinner, J. H. was 
called to the 'phone. It was Sister and she must have talked quite 
a* lot. J. H. never discusses family matters at table but he did 
today.- He said he didn't know what to do a bout the s hreveport 
impasse. t seems Dr. W en k remains at home and lister remains 
fhrious at him and, in line with custom, is hitting the bottle 
pretty heavily He asked me what thought „bout the 
situation. I told him that to re-build that family, the foundation 
which must be solid to make the attempt at doing anything effective, 
rested, not with Dr.Wenk but with his wife and while, except for the 
doctor-s blindness, his physical reh a biliation was easy enough but 
that I had no notion as to where to start on correcting Sister's 
mental condition which is the key to the whole proceedure from here 
on out. Grasping at a straw, J . H. said perhaps it would 
• be good if she came down here and staid for. a while. I pointed 
out that the country bored her and to escape boredom, she usually fortified 
herself with fire watel- and for one in her mental confusion, that 
wouldn't help at all but rather would hinder. He said that 
even as with the alcoholic who must h a ve the impulse to change, 
so perhaps it was necessary for her to feel an impulse to improve 
her own situation before anyone could help her. We both 
agreed it is amazing that even at this late date, it 
doesn t seem to have dawned on her that disaster has over-taken 
her and that she is quite intent at tilting at wind mills just 
8 s she always has done before. Heretofore, however, she has 
always, from birth, been able to win by making a sufficiently 
contiuing racket but that trick has play out and now that she 
can't accomplish a thing by that means, she keeps right at it 
regardless. J. H. remarked that as he and Celeste were leaving 
for a five day trip to Atlanta on Wednesday, perhaps it would be bettter 





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9703 


9702 


to let Sister s ew in her own juice until he got back. I agreed. 

On ‘‘"aturday afternoon, Juanita B. came to see me. ^he ( 
told me she is expectant and is distressed because Pat doesn t seem 
to want ttyeir impending heir to be brought up a Catholic and if the 
child isn t, she cannot receive the rites of the Church. 

I tried to soften some of that pain by citing Ora's inclination toward 
the Church after her children were 20 years old, —a long wait, to be 
sure, but a aadle in the dark regardless. 

She told me that while Pat's father was something of a problem, 
his peculiarities were nothing as to those presented by pat's 
mother, ugenia. It. seems her alcoholism has reached a tremendous 
pitch. I am glad she remains where ever she is, which seems not to be 
Houston but fortunately not Louisiana. 


Monday, February 2nd, 1959 


Memorandum: 


Two and a half inches of drizzle with every drop sinking 
into the ground and not one of them running off into bayous and streams 
The thermometer remained in the 30's but no ice formed and, although 
still cloudy, it h a s ceased drizzling and so we appear to have 
escaped the rigors of ice formation. Tomorrow the thermometer 
will remain in the 30's and one hopes there will be no 
dampness from on high. 


I chatted iwth H. a few moments this morning. 

I know not what time he got home last night, following his trip 
to Shreveport. He said he had been very kindly received by the 
elder Wenks where he found the doctor h a ppy and getting along 
alright. He called on Sister but couldn't discuss the 
marital status in which she finds he self as she will only rant 
against the elder Wenks and her husband. I suppose J* H. is 
glad he went because he and Celeste and the . WUliamses 
will le a ve for Atlanta for five days or so on Wednesday or 
Thursday and I suppose he at least has the satisfaction of 
knowing he tried everything he knew how to try with a hope 
of conveying a little sense to Sister which manifestly at the 
moment is impossible. Everyone seems to thinH she ought to 
be an asylum but as she is no more wacky-now that she always has 
been, nobody with authority will probably attempt such a move. 

If the world in which we find ourselves seems strange, how 

much more so it must appear to those with disordered 

minds.. How vividly Irecall an ancient professor of philosophy who 

sometimes in the midst of a lecture would pause in his lecture, gaze dreamily 

out of the window and remark, supposedly to himself: 


She left about 1* and 0i a M a e and Carolyn appeared. 

I assume they had spent the night in Natchitoches., T hey remained 
perhaps an hour and a half.. I thought Carolyn seemed more nervous 
than I could ever remember. I discussed three project with 
01 a M a e but for one reason or another, Carolyn didn't seem too 
entusiastic about them. *or at least two' of them, could 
understand why, for 1 tried to establish a date whenwe could 
hope to get a picture* ,for N ew Orl eans Njght. The 
weather isn t clear enough at present to get them, it was said. 

It will be too humid later, I fear. July. was selected by the 
photographer as an easy date to h a ve them rounded up. I told 
both ladies I would writp them on that subject on July 1st but 
that frankly, I doubted if we would be guy further along. 

The second project had to do with printing booklets of 
a standard size to conform to a later book, each hool&et devoted to 
n singl e plantation, -illustrated in color, to be sold by 
the plantation owners and in town, the profit being used to issue 
a boyk on the region when the series was completed. Carolyn 
wasn t enthusiastic because she has a picture book in mind but I 
pointed out that her picture book in toto should be published 
now and the more el a bortely documented book later. It wasn t 
accepted as a working idea. % third idea h a d to do with Bfidgc sc 


"Sometimes I cannot but wonder what life is all about." 

And when x read today's mail from J a mes, I momentarily 
because the n bsent minded professor as I gazed out of the 
picture window a nd asked myself, in view of the reference to 
the Rocket ^irl, what, indeed, it was all about. 


I must say I was mildly surprised to learn she had 
telephoned from Shreveport to consult with James in New Orleans 
to a sk him „bout h Joining her movie making staff. Now what 
in the world do you reckon she had in mind. .far. James to do? Per¬ 
sonally, I cannot imagine. I shall write him that I c«n understand 


provided sample material from Williamsburg and I expect this will 
be put into production forth with. I shall elaborate on some of these 
details later. '"And thus February starts in whereJanuary left off....* 







cove 


From the FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers# #M-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9704 


inclination to stick to his own immediate problems. It 
is interesting that early in the week, i helma had told me that Carolyn was to 
make the movie whereas Carolyn didn't mention it to me until riday 
which must h a ve been after she had talked to James. For 
a person who is broke and unable to pay her Mils, her use of long 
distance, like her umped-up night to A ansas City, seems difficult 
to explain Naturally, I did not ask but I haven't the slightest 
doubt she and Oi a M ae spent Friday night in "atchitoches, and 
formerly the three of us would h a ve dined together. ( It seems a little 
odd, too, that they couldn't get around for Ola M a e s conference with me 
on Saturday until k and that they said they had to le a ve for Shreveport at 5. 

What I think „bout all this is that Carolyn knows well enough that she is fritter' 
ing a way time she ought to be spending on projects in which 1 a m 
interested and the pursuance of which would be fiancially beneficial 
to her as photographer, as in the New Orleans Night thing and some of the 
plantation doings, and kowing this herself tut finding flying a bout 
irresistable, she senses that I know it, too, and therefore is 
probably vaguely uncomfortable in my oomp a ny I suppose 

it is the most natural thing in the world for a drunkard, whether drunk on 
rhum or road running, to be resentful of those who try to save the 
runner from ultimate disaster I shall midd my own business a s much 
a s p essible, putting no curb on her designs, on the assumption 
she knows what she wants to do but T shall regret at the same time 
that the status of a friend deteriorates into that of an impersonal 

p a t.ient. • • • 

On the pleasanter side, I was entranced tonight when I encountered 
a radio program, "Image Russia" or some such ^ which included the Swan 
Ballet of Tchaikovski, a number I seldom encounter over the air. On 
Sunday afternoon, I was hapoy to catch a couple of numbers by the 
same composer, --^an Klibum, however it is spelled, doing his 
prise winning “oncerto in D and an orchestra doing portions of 
the Nut Cracker suite which did not include my f a voirte, —"alts 
of the ^lowers. 

Tonight I was glad to hear Invitation to ^earning but I was 
not particularly interested in the book discussed, Orwell's i98U. This 
latter program is now availabe over a fifty thousand watt station in 
New °rlcans, making it much easier to round up that\the 
more remote, smaller stations where 1 had to fish for it amidst maddening 
interference by hill bill«jstations which often stole half the broadcast. 

Ora called this morning for a friendly chat and to pass along 
a d a b of "Hysterical ^adies u gossip of no consequence, ^he said she 
is enjoying Jilin Berlin's " u ilver Platter" a s much as she did her 
"Lace Curtains" of some time back. As for myself, 

I h a ve been without a Talking B ook for a couple of weeks a nd 1 must 
get after ‘he State Library for dwaddling although I shall not tell them 
I should not have had time to read anything even had a book been 
within reach... 


9705 


aovc 


Tuesday, February 3 rd, 1959 • 

\ ■ M-. SMlf qfi bst'-ofr.pq f- 

•i m v.-v 1 v. auii;\ 1 iroiWr 


t'M ii <*«« »»»»*••* ®Vi 

,, pic ;ii(" a o? 

loc. i V, > o qc ertX 


Memorandum 

a 'v •'.a v if tyii 5 •»'' •> "•* 

The driaxley weather oonti sues but it ia 
warmer and the danger of destruction by forming 
ice has disappeared • 

Everyone is remarking upon the number of 
starltngs that increases nightly • It would be 
interesting to know the reason for their tremendous 
concentration here this year • One is acoustomed to 
seeing thousands of them swarm in at sundown, after 
spending the day light hours in the fields but last 
week the number had increased to suoh a point that 
the bamboo hedges where they have always settled down 
from dusk-dark to dawning began to suffer from a hous¬ 
ing shortage and last Wednesday droves of them began 
settling down in the big oak, —a plaoe they had never 
% before seemed to care for • And when that was filled out 

u with nocturnal ocoupants, they began oooupying 
t .- • ' J to . 4- '• Hi*" 1:1 vifcode-'Ot 

other trees, grandiflora magnolias, peoanes and so on. 

By last night, the number was so tremendous the trees 
and bushes simply oquldn't accommodate them and, 
instead of going some plaoe else along the rtver, they 
, took to the ground by thousands • Tonight there are 
even more than last night and although guns are 
fired into their midst, usually ktlling about 
£5 at a single blast, the vastchord in the neighborhood 
of the explosion, simply rise up in great clouds above 
the spot, wheel about in a United oirole and then 
settle back.in the-same place • With woods 
scattered about the countryside, and many of them oloser 
to the fields where $he birds feed, it is odd they 
don't use such places when erowding is so great at 
this bend of the rivers Although formerly one 
didn't so muoh mind.th^'acrid smell from their droppings, 
it becoming a little intense and the 

spread of their sleeping quarters into the garden 
is intensifying the problem • 


I 







From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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aove 


9706 


r*ove 


9707 


'OOCi'Vi 
au oAi 


Longs before this late date, you will have noticed 
, that the old &oyal is back from the olinio • They eeem 
to have patched it up quite nioely and I shall hold the 
thought that I may have even better luok in the 
days ahead, now that it hae beenbeen a put 
into apple pie order.. 

The post today included the enclosures which aren’t 
mucfr but will keep you abreast of things. It is 
interesting that James should have mentioned Carrie 
a nd that Carrie should have had a letter in the 
post, responding to mine to her with the "Dear 
Joan" salutation. 

The mail brought some bridge soores I had 
ordered from. Willi as* burg but I did not open the 
paokage but.surely re-wrapped it and sent it on to 
Ola Mae, hoping it might reach her on Wednesday before she 
takes off for Baton Rouge and her rendezvous with 
Carolyn, on Thursday. I suppose they are after advertising 
from Standard Oil or Ethyl or some such down that way for they 
sientioned something a bout getting out some sort of a 
magazine. 

9 i» j«as\v c -v.onb ieiii fc.-.c 9V',*'- 

T miy or nay^not have mentioned that the local 
ladies, —and I refer both to the town and the Parish, 
are entranced with some simple bridgea seer soores 
that somebody found tn Williamgburg a year or two ago, 
with the cover of the thing showing an etohing of 
some building or other. My thought was to stake use 
of illustrations tn oolor, instead of the blaok and 
white of the etching, staking the thing more eolorful, and 
use the same plates employed tn the note paper. The 
Plantation Primitive oould be issued at once and 
followed by a series on "Oatohitoches, Louisiana's 
Oldest Town" for Pilgrimage tins, to be followed immediately 
by "Batohitoches Bights" using the three wonderfully 
colorful night shots of the lights whtoh Carolyn and I 
froze to death taking in Beoember. Of oourse, I want 
to do Batches, St. Franoisvtlle and soads of other plaoes 
throughout the fcmlf area, and by using the sasie plates for 
the bridges soores as are used for the note paper, the 
•poduotion ooSt is almost out in half. With all 
the projects a-oooktn 1 *Mr. Hodges may never even get his 
movie or I my bridge soores. (smile)..o... — 
niS'UH art -a • friti ensiiotit a, a a tisai- \o b, ;qc. 

Kiv'.isitr Hi ei 


Wednesday, February 4th, 1959. 


Memo ran dunn 


What a pleasqnt surprise to find a neat little package 
from Lyme awaiting me in today's post. 

V\o laartooHA eTafrsai. atffc r. oi . . a 

It is such a oomforting feeling to realize a ribbon is 
awaiting the lacer-upper" when misadventure overtakes the one 
in use. I think it was suoh a happy thought when somebody 
invented the canned ribbon which cannot deteriorate while 
standing in line but the thought appealing to 
me ever so much more iq the evidence by its arrival that little 
Miss Lee, as always, has anticipated the needs of the Royal 
when the next change is tn order, 

. i - . 1 .: ■ •• ’ 

And what a pretty surrounding of "ohameaux" the canned ribbcn 
traveled and how doubly happy will be Lestan when the 
Royal is folded up after a day of labor and smoke rings ean 
carry so many a happy thought in the direction of Lyme. It's 
wonderful how much happiness wells up around the heart at 
the reoeipt of today's little parcel. 

’O' . •' 

There was something almost symbolio about the 
elements in connection with the receipt of the package for 
I had gone to the Post Office with olouds overhead but 
during the two minutes I was there and just as I 
turned toward the door with my paokage, a shaft ef sunshine 
broke through and ajl afternoon and tonight it 
is clear-clear and the thermometer rising into the 50's. 

- . . en i'.aua 

I was glad the drizzle had ceased before noon, too, because 
the he jira toward Atlanta, got undermay about noon and 
the first stage will probably take it as far as 
Jackson, Miss., tonight and on to Georgia on the 
morrow. The return will be made about a week henoe, 
it is expected., cIt is interesting that Celeste did not 
u ; : ' .du OltibloV 3' 1 




1*9 


From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS, #H~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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we 


9708 


oj\*r 


9709 


. - ■:! , ' 


.-.m 


A 0 -i- 


ntfM 

: A* 


an 


as 


ask me for Mrs. Brandon's address, I dropped that lady's 
name over the coffee oups this morning but let it stay 
where it landed since no mani estation of interest was 
forthcoming, Carmen will be going to Atlanta in another 
month or less and she will make a round whioh is perhaps just as 
well as the looal representative, 

. 

I got quite a few letters knocked off and ready for 
mailing on the morrow when The Plastic Book column will come 
to hand, and can be sent to various Editors of Southern 
newspapers, Some of these letters are to acquaintances and 
some are impersonal, In all my letters, I suggested the 
material be used but the article re-written to suit the 
particular newspaper polioy, I so hope several newspapers 
. will re-print the article for L should like to express my 

if predation to the manufacturer of the plastic book by this gest 
gesture and I should like lots of people, —readers, - to 
know of the existence of such creations, 
nsifa nefraal IU« M ■* ‘ 

I took the opportunity to write Helen a personal letter, 
and after referring to the column, brought her up to date 
on the movie maker,- I remarked that there was some 
sort of a parallel between this impending 88 minute film and 
the big dam being erected in Egypt, The point is that 
theEgyptian dam is being built to create more acres on 
which food stuff may be grown for the ever mounting 
population but the experts say that if the dam is 
completed on schedule, the acreage created will supply 
only enough to satisfy the incre se tn population between 
now and then so that i a reality, Egypt then will find itself 
in exaetly the same preoartous position as to food as she ts 
right now, even as I predict that if the film ts successfully 
fade, its maker will at that point find herself precisely 
where she is now, —broke, What a pity 

for both the Egyptians and the Uovie maker they oannot 
master their respective impulses a little • * 

. J i«MI O' fruoflo ' 

And now for a pause and a Camel-and thenoe to 
work a little before folding up, after a day made so happy 
through Lyme •••••• 




t 


ni «.is■ i T TO 

. J ill Ci-.'f- C • 


Thursday, February 5th, 1959, 


a 4 


Memorandum : 


^ .1 i i V. 0 4 • » 1 J ^ i v 

-..c en e 

TOUr>, *£) 1 

niio \i ayoKio,: 1 »fr08,.0TCi o 4 amor. 
• uoio 'Ui.oa -wh- i a.'j 

aano > o C1 «o Me 


. a* 


: <s$ Soifr ..ahoi 

3 


O •*' 


A perfectly lovely day and warmer outside than in 
and tonight s sky is a glory of galaxies. But suoh a 
racket is going on outside that the beauty of .the night 
seems quite out of harmony with the banging of fie arms and 
the whir of wings,. The plantation invited 
everyone who wanted starling pie or gumbo to come and 
get themselves as many birds as they please, and 
a lot seemed to please everyone and they have been busy 
for the past couple of hours filling more gunny saoks with their 
feathered plunder. The doings could soaroely be described 
as sport if one presupposes an element of ohanoe in 
sport, for one simply stands by the hedges or under the rees and 
fires, bringing down 85 or 30 birds with a single discharge, 
and reloads while the birds not flit by the shot, sail upward 
for half a minute and then settle down again right tn the 
same tree or bush they h a ve just left so that no 
skill whatsoever is^reqpirod of the hunter to, bring 
down his prey,' 


At 






I take it that all the secretaries must be gunning for birds f 
for I haven t seen a ny one tonight and during the day 
everyone was probably busy rounding up the last of this 
year's pecans haryest, Oddly enough, how¬ 
ever, I did get one letter read by $h* person who 
wrote it, , For among the other pieoes of maifr today 
was a letter from pig Mae , penned and posted in Shreveport 
and before I had even given a thought to,looking at a 
letters, Ola Mae herself appeared at my door and so read 
the message to me, I enclose it u, \i 

think you will find the letter interesting in spots because it 
enumerates quite a few things I h a ve already suggested 
along’lines to whioh I thtnk you would heartily 

... u , 9 - 03 «,£•. .iitfQi’iiH b'v -’joi ottiboad sot r.tQ 

•it ijsrt :;o 4 '.'0 i o U* *’'• 6 t,n . \ ro*c\ *U 

osi a uj j4,o8 • :• is* 

n Ji'.o'v. iritis: uoy v jjo\j o-i aa.t.A 

....AOOS* 04 S i.’> ai’3 TO ttfflMi.Ctf 





From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 In the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9710 


SJ1W 


9711 


l.iOMI 


Friday ,*'#’«iruof^ 8% , 


fubaoribt, auoh as subjects for reproduction in oolor, etc. 

Toil will, however, be inclined to find all the part 
about peroentagea as tiresome as percentagea 
have a way of being, I an in f a vor of 
lending uy name to projecta I approve if one ia 

to aaaune, as the lady in converaation indicates she does, to wit, 

that a name on an object createa additional intereat 

and a vague hint of authenticity and probably providea aone 

extra ohit-chat, eapeoially on bridge aoorea even though 

I ahall not be attempting to masquerade as a new 

Culberaon, or however that bridge authority aigned 

himself, 

I have no doubt that Ola Mae ia baaioally 
hone at and that were thee re ever profits to be 
realised on any of the aforeaaid projecta, I night expect 
to get ny fine percentagea, But the fact ia that 
the costs of all the projecta nay never be wiped 
out so there will prob a bly never be »any profit-per- 
oen.tages diatributed, Still, as 7 

Ola Mae haa the neona of producing thia merchandise and as 
I have no connections to have ny ideas carried out in 
this particular field, I an losing nothing by lending 
ny name and there ia always the soant chance that 
aone item or other in the group night hit the jack pot, 
and thus, with nothing to lose, there night be 
a ohance that something night be gained,* In the 
mean tine, however, nay I point out that all 
merchandise thus far Supplied me in the Plantation 
Primitive emotion has been billed at the 
sane priosi others are charged, so that ny contributions 
to that particular undertaking thus far has provided me 
with no advantage,, net even-in the percentage 1 
section, althouhg it is quite true than 1 an delighted 
this item and others along similar lines, are to be 
on the market, 

not oe 'an toon <$* *0 1 

If you will keep the percentage*letter, making a mental note 
as to where it night be found eventually, we night 
at some future tins have occasion to refer to it, 

Ola was heading toward BatonRouge to meet Carolyn who 

ia supposed to fly in from Kansas City at attending some sort of a 
movie-maker '3 convention, I sent an extra 
Enterprise to you, thinking you night want a 
column for the plastic book ,••••••••••••• 


Memorandum 

^ - - • - - i * -• * g 0 ‘' w ‘ * ® V» ' ' ' ^ * ' ' * W *• J Jv ’ 

How nice to find an air nail from Lyne in today's post, 

I shall be particularly grateful if you will let me know 
how little -.old Daisy made out* Having lived to such a 
ripe old age, I suppose her span of days couldn't be expected 
to extend much farther although, what with Scienoe doing 
such remarkable things in the medical field, perhaps the life 
expeotenoy of canines ia being extended even as is humans* 

In the *event Cod has called her on to a dog's heaven, I an hoping 
our girl friend nay get another immediately to replace her, 
for while aotual replacement ia impossible, atill another 
little soul in a quiet house will go far to fill the 
empty spi oe in the heart, and whether the new one be a boy 
or a girl, I hope the sans name is bestowed on the new¬ 
comer, for I find this custom has its compensations, too, as 
demonstrated over androver again to me in ny endless 
succession of Grandpas, 


I-ntttoi^I^sieM'tS' h<?tfs started iff c with'ad? ts 
•>« a Dentoelne ~margin dUd b&'I-gdesi' yWhitatf ti&t'Wvi^ 
been able to 1 '*eddvtne> aborts' v$*y will -but D I'* 4 &oping 
there waa -enough to get aoroaa the genuine feeling of 
eoncern I feel for the little friend. 

And may I tell you how appreciative I an of your reference to 
the Yucca stationary, I use it so much because I like it 
bettern than any I have ever had and I have a bountiful supply 
0 on hand to dram on throughout the com tng year, I had 
the other made for use when something of a'business nature 
is-to be undertaken, —sending out gourd bills, Ola Mae 
correspondence and so on. La Storm gave me some rather 
j like the ourrent supply but that played out a long fine 
book when I wad doing so much work with the Podk book 
that ny supply was soon reduoed to the vanishing point 
nd that is why I asked the Enterprise to knook off 
something similar which can be used for strictly business 


sa 
6 : £8 


something 
i purposes. 


for strictly business 


non 1 o 


And thanks for telling me what the St, Mathews program 
Jas all about,thought the 2itt2e Xf.risen House 
, a J? were pinned on everyone were so appropriate, not only 




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University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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9712 


9713 


but also because of the raoial origin of the 
~ateachera and atudenta of that sohool, It 
h a 8 taken a lot of educating but at long laat everyone 
of color in the educational braoketa today seems or 
aeem to be proud of the connection aa between 
the Congo and theCane and you nay readily imagine 
thia makes ny heart glad because I feel that in 
accepting the tie for its true value, all these 
people themaelvea have something of whioh they may 
be justifiably proud, 

Two letters from James, one a single page, 
the other two pages, contain some quotations.I 
want to copy before sending along, one in 
Particular being a quotation from one of my letters 
to him along jb ut 1850, whioh seems to contain a 
* quotation from Madam Marco which I nay want to use • 

" f V 

I can t recall if I mentioned that I was 
sending fhe bock on fishing and boating to 
you under separate cover, It seems to me the 
flexible cover of this book is about the K 

quality of the paper that oould be used in the t 
Mew Orleans Bight volume throughout, Yesterday 
Ola Mae assured me that she felt syre Carolyn would 
have the pictures to hand by July 1st for the 
making of that volume, Sow much I hope she is right 
but how muoh less faith I have in Carolyn's productive 
oapaotty as between now and 5 or 6 months hence, especially 
in view of the Bodges business in between, 

. •: ss'\ x 

In a letter from James which 1 have not as yet for¬ 
warded, he mentions Carolyn 'phoned him last week end 
from Shreveport to ask htm if he would take employment 
with her in the making of the movie but as James 
apparently feels he has enough of a pioture to make on his 
own hook, (smile(, t he has doubts about accepting 
the offer which he feels would tye as fraught with 
"fits and starts" and especially halts, making it unwise 
for him to take two suoh projeots on his hands at the same 
time, J wrote him I thought him wise to decline if 
the job entailed field work but that if it was for 
research purposes that could be done within the 
shadow of Jackson Square, I oould see that might be 
easy enough although I have no idea myself pe to what 
the nature of the job may be. Under normal circumstances, 
Carolyn would probably have mentioned to me what she had in 
mind for ‘James to do but she has been so harum-scarum the 
last few times I have seen her that she apparently hasn t 
thought of anything • Ind now I must get to work,,,, 


Sunday, February 8th, 1959. ^ ; 

X < 

• W ■ » it UAtnt \Ln* via** 

,'xorio Luoo nits-"- 


Memorandum : 

t iniat.nV 


ijaboe ' Cv n-v '•t. 
LliusMi't oo uint*> 


tic too 4 i>-i 

»;» ato-V \ 


,, a u ; I 4 \ t j J- V 4 a «• * » V v - v * v 

sitoh a .attains »..* snd. “ff 
to disoourage road runners so tha\ I haven t seen a wn*oe jaom 

y* *• >° z,T * 

i T '0 i. S' 

* t K aoe just been listening to the Mayor of Berlin meet 

«. 'pr.. a , anf:,.r SlT.'Lull ^iT^^ssikl. 

tmoressed by the excellence of hts Bnglish, sivn 

ease and facility, I suppose and Fngiishman or “*^**5*®?“ th0 

slip of a single die , 

* , n j„ „ nm m to see it* on Saturday • Be had snob to tell me 
about his sister, karia, taking uP bar rsstdnas in the asylum 

„ 

The a rtist had told me on Friday afternoon that they had 
taken Bhrta^awayandtha t she thought It ,mam all •*>** „*<*“" 
Maria oould cook for her two borthers with whom she.lived, 

Anri had told m. only a fsm duysb./oro kis- JmmUs .minds d 

ss? 

TM: IXt l^rtUtrloZ ^ bad 

k: &%ss£&SrSS2& r " 

r Maria had said they ought,to have some potato** 
had agreed and so he had purchased,the half bushel so they m g 

. - ******* 





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9714 


have some occasionally, *han he got home the next night, 

Maria told him they were going to h a ve potatoes for supper, 

They certainly were, for Maria, enchanted at the prospect, had 
boiled the whole half bushel at a single sitting, Tea, the 
artist was right, M ar %a oould cook* 

But the cat and potato episodes were not the deoiding 
factors in sending Maraia to Pineville, One day Mr, Terry, 
a hill btlly fromrorumy now living in Alexandria and working at 
the asylum in that plaoe, visited the Bynog establishment when 
Andy was worktng up here one day and Mr, Terry sent Maria 1 s 
other brother, Albert, to the store to get some food, But Andy 
had come in just after Ablerta had departed and Mr, Terry, who 
had be-gotten one ohtld by Andy's other sister, Bessie, was 
intend on having a god , at Mart a , Mr, Terry explained to 
Andy that Maria ^was too old to have a ohtld so tt wouldn't do 
d* V harm for him to go through the motions of be-getting one 
and Maria would love it. But Andy dtdn't subscribed to 
Mr, Terry's notion of providing ^Joy for M aria and so Andy 
asked htm to leave, Sense told Andy that Mr,Terry 
might make a return visit when Andy was absent and so that was 
the fianl factor that persauded htm that M arta should becone 
a ward of the State 

."si " eiv «!-. r .i ■.... 

And so on Friday, acoompanied by her two brothers, Maria was 
induoed to accompany them in a oar provided by the Parish to take 
- them for a little ride, I believe Maria had never keen in a car 
before and was gnohanted, On reaohing the pretty building whioh 
is the asylum, aria was so delighted with its aspect and the frtendl 
(friendly) greetings of the people there that she told Andy she 
wished he would let her stay there for a while and visit with the 
people, Naturally, Andy was entraoed at this request and so 
that little chapter in the family of Andy, Bessie, Aurellta and all 
has closed nad only He a ven knows what will be next, 

■o ; s;.’ ‘*i\ JJitar bn A $ . . io bluoo i 

« boA iri-iVfr JuO arooA siA tso tjKiitsoa auo br.s-cd \o \ ©L 

£>o 6S nM 03- III) Jr4 .oft tn-u aeunoai *ic\ uA 

« £ did some reading last night, --"Alexander Hamilton 
and the AmericanTradition" by Louis M, &aoker or some suoh name, 
a thesis type of thing but informative in the realm of political 
economy, I an three quarters through and have >had but a 
paragraph about hiswife, Elisabeth Sohuyler, and * regret there 
hasn t been at least a chapter on theSohyylets, It seems odd 
to mention Hamilton and Mosart in the same breath but 
these two oontempoartes were probably the outstanding figures in 
their respective fields, with Hamilton reoogntsed more or leas in 
his time and Mosart not, Ind now for a supper of . 
fried chicken and chooolate pie and thence to work,,,,,,, 


t v>i.o. * n© c.ot, '• AJ n&i,Jolty to M»c 

v < . : j .;. 0 :•... i'i o(5 it4 sr tjo: U9V:J 

Memorandum J . ? 

T-rois -,aAJr ©*'.• 04 . . os a ©civOacs-i '.isi'J 

Warm, warm and oloudy and humid and the Chinese 
magnolias are beginning to unfold • 

>.:r- : ijr* . t -.«oVv ,yiurt«iA3 oi' raw J & 

There was quite a handful of mail today ^ 
and, oddly enough,<it was all handwritten, Hummumm, 

lay 1 s lotto r* if 1 oan find it, will be enclosed* 

■ x?. nab 4 OS'- '-.1 A V,04‘ . A9 90' o z . 

Most of the others revolve about the Picayune 
a rtiole about gourds, as of Ootobs.r last past * This 
type of correspondence inoreases dally, what with the 
turn of the season, I am astonished how many people 
saved fhe article for:refere not at plantating time. 

One suoh letter delighted me because of one reference whioh 
I am bound to pass along to JamesHome lady, writing 
from Amite, Louisiana whioh I suppose is 60 or 75 miles 
northeast of Hew Orleans, She referred to the gourd artiole, 
enolosed a /lock of stamps whioh I am sending book, and 
asked for some gourd seeds whioh I shall send gmatis 
later, Ifeen she mention to say that she understood 






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9716 




9717 


color, all neatly dressed in their Sunday olothea, cppeared 
on my gallery, *hey explained that while they had none 
, of them, all tsaohyrs , had had an opportunity to 

/ apeak with me in per a on at the Convention at St, Mathews, 

they had been impreaaed by what I had to aay and afterwarda 
they had individually does a dab of aoul aearohing 
on their own hook and then shared their thoughts with 
one or another in the group and finally, today, they had 
taken their oourage in both hands and decided they 
would come to see me, They felt that somewhere along 
their respective educational paths they either had not 
been given or had failed to grasp many of the things I 
had touched upon when appearing before them and that I 
had aet them to thinking, How, I'm asking you, what 
sort of a world can we be living in if somebody in 
. a epeeoh can set somebody to.thinking. t 

. Well, be that.as it may, after going into a huddle over 

the past week end, they had deoided they would like 

/ to learn some of the things they felt I might be 

able to share with them and 00 they had decided to 
oome to see me this afternoon to ask if I would consider 
giving them a series of lectures, either this aemestre or 
next and, if so, how muoh it would oost, and if I 
would apeak to them at the aohool if they would provide 
transportation when regular sohool was not in operation, 

I told them I reokon we wouldn t have too muoh to worry about 
as to costs but it was doubtful if the Parish 
t schools could be used by outsiders to give courses to 
teachers, but I figured we could getaround that if 
we oould keep dqwn the number of people attending whioh 
probably wouldn t be difficult if moat of them once 
heard me, and that we had been have a general meeting 
at somebody's house to decide on details at some 
mutually convenient hour, * The conference was terminated 
rather quickly when white intruders appeared but I g a ve them 
my telephone number and we shall see what we can do, 

. % i\o i «c ■ I- , Ji - 

Gome to think of tt± most teachers 1 have known have been 
solely concerned with attending courses surely to get 
aohool oredits, 1 mads it plain to them that I oould 
give them nothing of the sort. They 
first giggled and then laughed at that and one of Ihem 
'Said; "We think we have enough counts already, maybe too 

many. What we have in mind ts getting some learning .* 

, utolt ©•' ' 

Poor things,, how I hope I may be able to give 
them a hand,,,,,,,,,, 

\o alo.ooq r> \l A t 0£: • v i: ./ »■ 


Tuesday, February 'Hth, 1959, 


Aw itoi8hr. .v.9WUv tis :Vi - on' o« s si uoqu 

0 * mu t r5oiIiro,.V- \,o *\4 oAt t si i oi\* 

Memorandum , .. •• t ■ t - ■ 

V i'- vtq outs A 3a<§« i&itui , 

Cloudy, mild and humid, induoing other handfuls 
of Chinese magnolias to unfold, , 

i ' d ■ ^ ' • ' ' V"' SO!* RT 

The Sri 0 &avereid broadcast 4 boui the opening 
of the 4 lexandrta schools.to colored children today I 
thought excellent,. I*m sure \t oame to many a ©■'- 
listener as something of a surprise that ‘r, and Mrs, 
Savereid, years ago, had sponsored a aohool tp Alexandria 
their ohildren attended whioh also had children of color 
among its pupils, j;i r 

9$/x - it os-rt Aoub * i btti\ i aeuLosti b«o 
I liked the quotation from Emerson that E, Rosooe M, 
recited, relative to the Secretary of State's policy 
of keeping everything in his Department in his hands, 
the idea of Emerson being that striokly speaking 
or perhaps broadljfo:* know not whioh, ; there is no 
suoh thing as History but merely a Series of biographies, 
• oc* .hlv'.: • f Ki .V si-, iu i. ■ . t - 0' ' 

The day s post brought a letter from Mr, Mills, 
maker of the plastic book. He acknowledged re¬ 
ceipt of the n°PV of last week's oolumn about his r -- 
creation, expressed his delight with same and l 
asked me to inquire if he could obtain re-prints 
in quantity from The Enterprise, The Enter--- 
prise seemed delighted to receive the request, so I guess 
everybody was happy all around, ti t t 

.Tit; " a. ? v. -,o . ■ r • •Aoario uionuod *Ai 

• I did a little reading last night and at thS © V 
final ohapter found further referenoe to the ! « ' 

Hamilton family^ About 2600, they established^ 
themselves in p country estate, occupying the " 
land running book from the Hudson to what in A.-t-w 
now St, Uioholas Avenue and boundeti south and north by 
what are now. 141st and 145th Streets, Idfefi pbwr 
next time I am in Manhattan, 1 must take time out-1 o-u-r 
to walk about this neighborhood to ref re sh my memory \,c 
of, its general layout although hthink 1 remember it 
pretty well, isuq i'fltitn-b'j'o stsri \jlno Ton 

**co(i o* a«3nJp* 0 * ri A ho :■ bna itoi&cooo r«c 

Although Louis M, Haoker, the author, did not emark 
. t 'ifc’ToV." eo ail-toesb -siciaec, ir.ool 9i\* tcM 

uses .(iu sbiiot :vui ‘S'rooQiqfi t Mt«t80p «1 olqc-oq 
*■ ayH t* tJoo satou ilsi'i* \o amos b«® v'obo* sro bsilao 

• 3se<-': cii'ilST 




■■■ 1 . -,-±J _ . 











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7! VI! 




9718 


upon ia the fact that Juuel Mansion where much later, 
that ia, after the death of Hamilton, Burr was to 
live, must, when it was, as that time it was, an estate, 
the Jumel Mansion property must have pretty welll 
neighbobered if not adjoined TheGrange, as*the Hamilton 
estate was known, In the volume mentioned, there 
are two or three quotations from letters of Hamilton 
to Grosveneur Morris, and if memory serves me correctly, 
the Morrises owned Jumel Mansion in those days $ prior to 
the Jumel purohase whioh, 1 suppose,•may be the reason 
the Morris .Heights section in that region, which perhaps 
took its nano from that family, < ‘ 

oloo \o msrtbtt&o oeic uetbun 

And I read something in this book I never knew before 
arid because I find it such a remarkable coincidence, I 
cannot imagine why I never heard of it before and I must 
somehow work it into a Cane a iver Memo some day, 

( In 1808, H&ilton's 19 year old son, got into an argument 
with a partisan of Burr's about some political matter, 
which resulted in ,a duel in Weehauken, Hew Jersey, 
in whioh Alexander's son was slain and two years later, 
in 1804, Hamilton was slain by Burr in Weehauken, too, 

I find it .remarkable that father and bob should both have 
died in- duels over the same .Burr business and in the 
same plaoe in a State not their residence, a nd only 8 
years apart, 




-on 


Robin^s letter touches on a subjeot in the James 
c u nnighat i matter which points up my feelings - 
tlnnfclwr, quits a different matter, in the case of 
the bounoing oheck, Rudolph illustrates the point 
of view of definitely feeling no responsibility for 
the person he sponsors, I didn't mtnd the books 
Mr, Cunnigham stole fwom me when an overnight guest 
in this house but I still regret the theft of the folio 
which had so many original paintings and designs by 
little Miss Alberta, Anne Parrish and others, all originals 
and made expressly, for me, and 1 still think Rudolph 
morally responsible and that he should have demanded 
of his friend that he return them, v hat pussies me more 
is the foot that knowing his friend to be a theif, he 
not only brought him here as overnight guest ob more than 
one occasion and introduced him to Mobina to boot, 

• ; ' - « ' I' T., t * • 8ii.O .. tv - ' • 

What the local people deseribe as "Mardi Graces", — 
people in costume, appeared in the roads and even 
called on bo today and some of their home contrtived 
costumes were wonderful ••••••••••• 


9719 




Wednesday,February 11th, 1959, 


Memorandumi ' 

A deepier clo.Udi.ne.sa and a touch of ohtlltness 
in the air but no ohance of a frost at the moment, 


Before 1 forget it, let me oorreot a bob# 

I believe I g a ve Alexander Hamilton s eldest 
son yesterday, I had chanced to have several things 
to write to or about concerning the word Janus, and 
as Mr, Hamilton had pne son by that name, 1 think 1 
inadvertently gave it to the one,filled in the Wggtiauken 
duel, for in reality, that boy, the eldest son, was 
named after his grandfather, Ailip 8chuyler, — 

Philip Hamilton, B y the way, I have forgotten how 
to spell Weehauken, * 


!iOI 


t 


\ Today's mail wasn't much hut I send along a 
few items regardless, -- - 


-la; 




I liked this evening's broadcast, The World Tonight, 
I especially liked the poem by Pasternak, apparently just 
written in the wake^cf all the turmotl about 
1 the Oobel Prise, and I. thought the quotations from 
today'sSenate racket.hearings hilarious, especially 
the Illinois gent who had come to the United States from 
Soioily in. 1910, who had so muoh difficulty »*tfc 
his English, saying lots of simple sentences in such 

a mixed up fashion, one was inolined to thinkstt a game, 
such as ".I recline to refuse to answer", "I refuse 
to reoline to answer,,,, and so on, 

- br.: 1 . 2L8 bice , At non tt%u\ 

Hut T got a muoh bigger kick -eat of the 
serious Ford oommerioal in the advertising spots 
in the program just ahead of The World Tonight z 
program, I believe I oan quote verbatim the 
oommerioal as read with sueh smoothness by the 


1 W 


•to 


.<slip r - .r;oot 






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giveer of the commerioalt 

'••••••••••and six adult people oan ait 

at the same time in the 1959 Ford in full assur¬ 
ance of ample head room,,,,,,,," 

^ , ',.o ' 

Were I one of those six adult people, it would 
seem to me the assurance. should be pointed more in 
the direction of the hip than the head but then, 
of course, I know nothing about advertising* 

> no sew* btow *i\t \jii 1 - o oo Svc'.'a to - vt 

Along about first dark, the Rooket telephoned* 

She said she was in Matohitoches and that she had 
to be in Baton Ropge in Mie x morning and so was pushing 
a n South forthwith • , She said she had seen so 
mdip interesting things in *anacw City* She said 
something about having to do a story about Miss 
Domon sometime soon but what that was a bout, I know not, 
and I did not ask* I did mention I had sent 
her a note yesterday* —I couldn’t remember about 
what , and I was really sh aue-faoed when she asked 
, me to whiap address I had sent it, I couldn't 

for the K life of me remember the name of the town and 
as I cast about for the word, she asked, "Texas", and 
I saffd Tea* I asked about theRegisters and 
she aaid x she thought they were making it pretty well 
. but Kay wanted to have James find another apartment 
sinoe with one of her kidneys missing,> she found 
i the Pontalba stairs too muoh for her* The Rocket 
said she would be heading North early in them week, — 
oh, yes, 1 reodLl that J had sent her a memo as to the 
,,status of the Chinese magnolia blossoms, and so 
perhaps she may get in touoh with me next week or 
next month. She said she had had a 
Bodges conference yesterday and although no 
goutraot had been signed as yet, all seemed going along 
satisfactory . 

;•mi it • w.' ou’ r.oo . ; i ■ . *< ' 

3 . J* H* and Celeste returned from Atlanta about dark* 
I saw Celeste for a moment, She leave tomorrow for 
Mansura • She satd they had had a darling time in 
Atlanta* She reported nothing as to hip or head 

room* Smile*,****** 


Thursday ,February lBth, 1959, 


Memorandum : 

A half inch of rain last night, with cloudiness 
continuing all day and the temperature rising 

I*m afraid I masp' t paying much attention to 
Morgan fieatty tonight which may explain why I thought 
he succeeded in giving two or three erroneous statements 
or at least misleading ones, I thought he said some¬ 
thing about sie<fmpoats doing their first voyaging at the 
time of Lincoln s Administration, Perhaps ho* 
intended to scy or perhaps he even did say that 
at the time of his birth, eteanbaots were 
h a ving their beginnings. He did say quite 

il! "as in Lincoln’s political period 
that the first glass was made inAmerioa* I am quite 
sure that is an error since there was plenty of glass 
made prior to the 1650’s* W . ■ , 

Well, 1 don’t see as this matters, but it 
would be interesting to know if Mr. Beatty got hold of 
some orumby research that probably caused no end of people 
to wag thqir heads, v. • . „ . 

T Vi* V it represented by the enclosures and the 

Mammy Chloe #orit * p *» »•«*. ' The thmb- 

gives is interesting We have ^ 
read like sketches of Helen from Carolyn’s pen and •’ 1 ■ 
in oonsdering both, one can but ask one's self how it 
is that such friendships oontinue in spite of the 
amount of unhappy steam blown off by both sides 

Miss Kate s post card is interesting in its plea 
for charity or whatever* What with her years and the 
situation of her brother and sister* I shell be mere ji 
circumspect and avoid blowing off steam in the future r ^ 
when writing to her about Sister* <1 assume hvJ • t 
that if Miss Kate had had the SO years of experience•' 1 

Bffi.8 ©;fr &JUI I 9s>Jr £»r. \ Triqiw -ji'.e lot.:4o« 

eor. zt-.s yWettiioA 1 

1 Uiorta i t e&oH -SeHi otri ecort - . iti ti d oc o4 

e iu*\i oe foul. \l88\jH qitiqlsA ts\atq 
.....juiiiiiioo eoi.. »e»«*A0 orti tttufr 


9720 


9721 


wA.r * ! . 











rs / M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection 
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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: I 


9723 


As I was making this envelope, Kay telephoned 
to say she and Aunt Willie would not be 
ooming up this week end as their oar haw 
been stolen* 


Friday, February 13th, 19 59 


, 'I 1 • t'.i Jli i\ tr|Q 5 , 1 •'-■t -U i- -it-.- 

r < ■ '•00': ^4 t M'.. J4V I ' 3 ".V'.vui . . S'. 00 

t j i „ v ' <* .>*t « no 

Memorandum 

to to frudi 8V...1 iwtt *to\ abttw 4 

How nich 'to- find a message from Lyme in today's post, — 
Tuesday to Friday seemtng to be favorable transmission • 

I an ao delighted to lparn , that the little patient 
is home again and I'm wondering who is the happier, her two 
mistresses or herself • In view of her age and her. self imposed 
diet, I find it truly remarkable she made the grade so 
nicely . 

«. 1 » 

And may I thank you for telling me about 
the program showing Miss Hamilton at Manse t, As you 
pointed out, this is bound to have been taken during the 
summer since we know that she returned to Washington when 
autumn arrived • As you wers writing me about Edith 


_utumn arrived • .as you wers writing me aoouv *>a»™ 
about the time 1 was writing you about Alexanders I find myself 
wondering if there oould be any oonneotion between these two 
remarkable minds, so far as kinship is ooncerned, I 
realise, of oourse, that there are about as many '■* 
unrelated Hamilton ^familiesas others are Smiths but '■> there 
are so few characters bearing any name with suoh remarkable 
mental gifts that it would be doubly interesting to know* 
if one might have inherited a dab of gray matter from the 
other although, in the same breath, -f hasten to say that 
I never remarked upon nuoh inheritance tn the bratn section 
that was very impressive* 

X .. . ST-i:. ■ \ 6V 0 t .3 4 - 

I an sorry that an interruption prevented me from 
inkinn • un the nlinninna at todav 's sittiUO but 





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>V ill'-.’ v .■» , tooe;.-fr k .i\i • •><> \ - 

ad fro« biuow Mit> ede \j»& 

U A too t3 *d# 80 f '"»w C.ii '■•iflSo 

. . 8 • •' 



9724 

i 


• t >:i t ■' \t unv •. t it 

After folding up my beard last night, I did 
isliat I always do, --went fishing in the air waves for 
something interesting and, by good fortune, stumbled 
on a re-broadcast of address Carl Sandburg was making 
before the joint session of Congress, His 
voice wasn't made for the air lanes but what he 
. has to' say is something the radio could air much more 
frequently , - 

In the news cast earlier, I had heard the poem 
the English journalist had brought back from 
Russia, given him by Pasternaek at the time 
of the tieeting of the Soviet conclave in Hoscow 

• >• *' f * •* 

last week, and with the whole Pasternack business as 
a background, the Sandburg speech was doubly thrilling, 

So long as the Congress of the United States can take 
time out to honor Lincoln by inviting a poet to 
pronounce the eulogy, things have the promise of 
heading in the right direction, Of course' nobody, 

I suppose, oan ever oomprehend the stupidity 
of the whole ?asternaok treatment by the Kremlin 
boys and,so tt is impossible for anyone to 
imagine Pasternack addressing the Supreme Soviet but 
that is a Russian loss and. Praise Cod, the Snandburg 
message was a blessing both for our side and the world 
in general, 3 1 

, t*t *«MR - 

Our warm, humid, qloudy weathr continues, I 
guess the thermometer was around 80 this fternoon 
and natrually the Chines magnolias are unfolding 
at a great rate, As we are promised more warmth and 
humidity, I guess I had better write Hr, Hodges to 
make a round about *ednebday or hursday, "excusin'" a frost, 

1 . u*.- .• v. '.v ni ' i 

Again may I say how happy my day has been to 
have had the news and the between the line sentiments 
that came my way today,,,,,,,, 


9725 




Sunday, February 15th, 1959, 


UiVi 1, 1 ut 0 
*<Y 1(0 it * 


two 


;St 


■ i\ 4 j; 


mot 


He mo rand urn t 


. it 


o t .0 


. a 


How nice on Saturday to discover a Daisy Valentine in the post, 
It was all so gay and it was all so nice to find the nioe 
note from little 'Hies Lee and the clippings, 


u 'I 


particulars regarding Hies Hamilton keep me in. touch 
lady's doings and I'm indebted for the notice of the 

_ M T TJ ___ J. 4 - J._' *_J 1 1 T L._1 M . J. 1__ . J Li . 


The particular 
with that 

probating of Vincent Astor's will, I had not know of his.death 
until •Lames mentioned it in a recent letter, 


l\fr 


LQQU* 


i_-.fr Sttj 


Somehow, because it failed to follow the usual pa item, 

I suppose, 1 was a little surprised at the provisions of the 
will, I know not why but I am under the impression there 
may have been substantial .transfers of the estate prior to 
the making of the will to individuals, such as his half brother, 

I found the twenty five thousand dollar 

bequest to hts former vije \a ^little odd, too for that sum sesms so 

small in contrast to the bulk of the estate thatif cash 

were to be given,, such an amount might well have been v 

transferred any old time even as J, H, might give somebody 

a pecane without aiting until his will be executed • I o 

must say, too, that it seems a little odd no mention was 

made of his half brother or any half nieces or nephews or 

his sister, the former Princess Oublenska, the former Huriel Astor, 

unless all these people be dead. Should you ever 

notice any reference to any of these, * should be glad if you would 

keep me in mind, . . 

. • s dfcUob s‘o*0 

Our warm, driaaley weather continued through Saturday with 
a toatl of 9 inohspof rain for the sppn of the past few days• 

This morning the day d owned clear and tonight the sky is cloudless 
and the moon radiant and the temperature 
a little ’cooler, 

tauofr &U, » 0 *' M ' A 

One or two of thfi white magnolias unfolded today and so I think 

I shpj.^ write Hr, Hodges that Ihursdayxbs may be the * •' 

magnical moment for his visit. 






/ 


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«* M*<|> 

Ljv* * "•* 


9726 


oc 


ua 


When Kay telephoned on Friday night to say their 
car had been stolen and their trip accordingly delayed, 
she remarked she had seen the Rocket u irl on Thursday night and 
that she was planning to head up this way on Friday• I did 
not hear anything from her and 1 suppose she probably 
hastened on to Shreveport, Perhaps I had better drop 
her a note regarding the magnolias, 

The two Wenk boys spent the week end here, John 
coming down fromShreveport, Lloyd coming up from Baton 
Rouge, I learned nothing at all regarding doings 
at home. It is interesting, of course, that they 
should prefer spending their week ends here rather than 
there, 

- • 

Juanita B, came to spend Saturday fternoon with me. 

She ^says she has recently acquired a colored girl to 
give her a hand in the house but that p at will 
not eat any food the girl prepares so she still ' u '’ 
holds forth in the kitchen department. In view of the 
.vast rarrotement of cooks at Melrose over the years 
seems odd that Pat should be getting paniqky at this late 
dots, although, come to think of it, I ^don t recall that 
he has ever partaken of any food since he-returned from 
the Army although he has several times graoe the u 
table while the re3t of us have dinid, Perhaps he has 
developed some sort of phobia that includes a fueling 
that only the food prepared by his ws own wife s hands 
suits him, 

Lai" . V t ' it • *w*o\ .•«» *naSeit n > 1 

I didn't hear anything interesting from 
Juanita although she did mention one or two things 
I had heard from other sources, including the fact that 
Osa’s daughter is onqe more pregnant, this being 
Ho. 3. She says Ann s energy is remarkable, what 
witt* her present condition, two small children at home 
while she is secretarying for the Telephone 0 onpany during 
the day and busy-busy with oivic undertakings at night, 

• Tji • 

Mammy Chloe is provoked at her boy friend, Joe Ben Metoyer, 
for planning to take unto himself a bride other than 
himself and so the world turns at this bend of the river,,,. 


9727 




Monday, February 16th, 1959, 


Memorandum: 


a r 


I had not expected the thermometer to 
be standing at 36 this morning. There 
was a heavy fog but a cloudless sky permitted the 
sun to eliminate that curtain by 8i 30 and'the 
balance of the day was cool but grand, 

I seem to have started off with a Denholme m&rgin 
which 3eems to result in part from the slight difference 
between this machine and the substitue one to which 
I got accustomed so readily. But I am glad to be 
back on the old one which seems to be working just fine. 

There seemed to be a qontinuation ofValenttnes 
in today's post but I didn t get around to open 
anything but a couple of letters, one of which is enclosed 
and'speaks for itself. 

At the moment I can'11 hink what Carolyn wants James 
to do by way of research on the Hdges film but whatever 
that may be, she may well use his reluctance to take part 
in the business until she gets a contract, for if she 
finds research necessary, she ought to find it easy 
enough to persuade Mr, Hodges that a contract is necessary 
forthwith if the film is to get under way. Personally, I 
am under the impression all the goundwork should be 
wrapped up right now if the film is to be made this 
season. For instance, what with all the excitement 
going on around here in the aviary department, it ttlill not 
be long before the ducks on the lake in the Hodges seotion 
will be migrating shortly. Already the Samilltas are 
in full bloom over yonder, as reported by Sunday visitors 
there. Once there is an impulse for the htlls to 

...... ts zi a; r. c- ■?. • .. ni <;c4i 





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wvr. 


9728 


ogsi: 


9729 


Tuesday, February 17th, 1959, 


untie their bonnets, to borrow a phrase from Miss 
Dickinson, they aren't going to await either a 
Register research or a Ramsey movie camera but 
perhaps as the lady flourishes on dead-lines, perhaps 
she will also succeed in keeping up with the 
floral section but I doubt it. 

Father Callahan telephoned me this noon to 
say he was casting about for nandina bushes to 
plant around the Convent, I told him 
he was calling at the’right place, He, Father Mac 
and a tall, golden youth of the Metoyer clan 
appeared forthwith and left in due time with enough 
nandina bushes' to plant all the convents in 
Louisiana, I think it took Father Callahan a while, 
following his arrival in this region, to 
get himself adjusted to the presence of his mulatto 
parishoners but he has succeeded very nicely 
and today we got plenty of laughs over matters that a few 
yedrs back would not have amused him at all, such as 
my remark that I had to get in touch with the Citizens 
Council right away, reporting to them that the robins 
hadn t heard about how dreadful it was for them to 
beroosting in the same magnolias with black birds, etc, etc, 

I discovered I had a half hour before supper which provided 
sufficient time to knock off a no account column 
under the title of Perils of the Deep" which was a joint 
crack at the perringrenations of Ur, Dulles and Miss 
Ramsey although the latter wasn t named, It will 
appear next weekend by then I am hoping three 3iok men,— 
the President, the Secretary of State and the Assistant Secretary 
of 3vdte will have witnessed a full time office holder 
who will not have to manage things either from the siok 
bed or the golf course, I still think it has been t 
pretty poor management that has permitted such an important 
office in such a state of decrepitude when so much 
vigor is required, 

„ . .... 

Mammy Chios came to ask for cuttings so she migt\t plant 
some rose bushes. She got as many as Father Callahan got 
nandina8 a nd so Spring gardening gets under way •••••• 


Memorandumi 

It was such a. lovely summer s day, I had to 
discard long sleeves for short one, and tonight is 
pure summer with the perfume of the ( 'hinese magnolias 
to suggest the grandiflors of May or June, He are 
promisep cold and rain for the morrow, 

I intended responding to t your inquiry of the 
other day as po what Ola U a e s relation might be to 
the F or p 8 t r y Magazine, Advertising Mart and so on. 

It is my understanding that she is the Editor and 
publisher of the forestry thing and her Advertising 
Mart, * imagine, does advertising for various houses 
that do not employ the big time agencies and I believe she 
does job printing and that sort of thing, 

I should h a ve had a letter from her yesterday 
or today , Yesterday's mail was normal enough but 
today's was short in 1st class stuff, only the 
enclosed Congressional thing and some be-lated 
Valentines and somestuff from Jean O'Brien and 
such 2nd class material as the Rixie Roto 1 am sending 
under separate cover because it has an interesting 
article about Mew Orleans writers. 

And while I think of it, * want to mention something 
about cotton 1 hadn't mentioned, 1 believe, although 
I had intended referring to ip two or three weeks 
ago. As you prob a bly know, large and small 
cotton faotors maintain a gents with offices in 
all cities ?nd towns in the ootton belt and always 
h a ve. It is the business of these agents to 
purchase cotton for the big dealers in that 
staple, Clayton Anderson of Houston is one of the 
lqrgqr,q<WPanies most active in this area and 
this in spite of the tremendous holdings they have 
in South Ajnerioa, especially Brazil, 1 believe. 




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9731 


9730 


SCVt! 


Be that as it may, I find it a very interesting 
sign of the times that all the a gencies of these big 
companies operating in this area, and I gather all over 
the cotton region, h a ve closed their offices and retired 
their agents permanently, As I understand it, 
this is. because these big companies supply cotton 
manufacturing concerns the world around oan 
purchase cotton bales from the Government more ad¬ 
vantageously than from the planter, It seems 
the Government guarantees the planter a minimum 
price for his cotton, purchasing whatever he raises 
and putting it in warehouses, Within a specified 
period, perhaps 6 months or a year, the planter oan 
withdraw his cotton from the warehouse if he can 
find a customer who will purchase it at a higher 
figure than the Government, guarantees, °ut as 
the big companies find it advantageous to purohase from 
the Government warehouses, the planter seldom, — 
prob a bly never, withdraws his cotton and thus there 
is no longer any need for the big factors, or little ones, 
to maintain regatonal offices since they can obtain 
all the staple they want from the Government, 

The planters seem to like the guarantee of a price with 

no worry about an over-supply of any particular year 

driving down their return while the big operators like 

it because they don't have to oompeteif there be a shortage 

and they.don 1 t have to invest in huge stocks since 

Uncle Sam is holding both bag and bale against 

all demands I.don't pretend to understand the vices 

and virtues of the Farm Program, of whioh there are 

m a ny of both, I suepeot, but this little glimpse 

of doings in the ootton section indicates that the 

old order is passing and a new marketing day in raw materials 

has arrived in cotton at least, 

• 

There s to be a World Congress of Shriners in 
Shreveport in April, I.have been asked if they may 
come here on April 9th, Brother ,•••••••• 


Wednesday, February 18th, 1959, 


Memorandumt 

It's air-ish, The sky has been cloudless all 

day but about 9 this morning, the thermometer at 70 
began sagging and kept it going in the same direction 
the balance of the day, The weather man nays a low of 
3 8 to 34 may be expected before morning, I hold 
the thought that it may be the latter figure so that the 
magnolias, now at their lovliesf, may not be converted 
into repulsive brown rags on the day Mr, Hodges 
isexpected, 

I was surprised this fterrioon to see the u at\efsena 
of Seattle at my door, They had been in New Orleans and 
were going to some place in Texas where Harold is to be guest 
apeaker at some university • 

Ihey were boty quite gay which isgood to know 
in the view of what Elisabeth had to sayi 

"You know I am 50* Fell, four months, baok, my 
husband, in o manner of speaking, poked fun at me and I took him 
seriously and so-, five months hence, we may be expecting 
another heir which, perhaps, our g randhcildren will assist 
in raising,,,,,," ^ . j i. 

i • "* 

I suppose it isn t so very extraordinary for people of 
50 to have children but I don't recall any of my friends 


0* 

t e%un*>3 vnoiftH 






I 


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at that age who began such an advernture over 

again. 

They took me to dinner and aa the hour was 
10 and the moon magnificient when we returned, they 
had an opportunity to see the gardens with the 
ghostly pinks and white of theopulent magnolias 
under most favorable circumstances, except for 
the presences of the hosts of birds which impelled us 
to avoid passing under branches, —a difficult pattern 
ina garden so heavily peopled with trees. 


Thursday, February 19th, 1959 

• • * 


s Vj t »' 

Memorandumt 

As the weather man had predieted, the thermometer 
"hoovered" somewhere between 3 2 and 34 last 
night at its lowest. Unfortunately it failed to 
ri3e much today, —about 36 by the hardest. 


I was sorry to miss my news programs, especially 
the Ed. Murrow broadcast, thinking he might have 
something more to say about his year's leave 
beginning on July 1st but 1 suppose there will be 
more about that in subsequent broadcasts. 

, • “ 

I wanted to hear the President s news conference, too, 
but perhaps I shall catoh that later tonight on some 
Western station . I cannot help *feeling the 
President is w rong in leaving it up to Dulles 
as to whether the job of Secretary should 
be left to him. After all, a <■ 

personality like that of v ulles which has always had 
to keep the reins so tightly grasped in his 
own hands is most likely, it seems to me, to 
never relinquish them volontarily.. It seems to me 
that housewives and politicians are notable examples 
of people who never of their own free will let 
go of a,job. And then there the faftor 
I haven t heard mentioned on the air as yet and that 
is the probability that anyone suffering from 
a)\y a fflid ton is likely to have a far greater chance 
of recovery if allowed physical rest and freedom from 
mental exertion. I, for one „ am fully convinced 
that the “ulles chances w,puld be improved if 
the President should supply this relief, f »a releif 
which neither the housewife nor the » 
politican would volontarily exchange ...... 

for the unending hold on power. t 
l v-.e, W i \ 1 OfU - !i ~'- •• • : • 

Today's post brought one or two items that appeared 
mildly interesting but, of course, I never got around 
to correspondence but perhaps I shall have 
a n opportunity to catch up with same on the morrow. 

If memory serves, it was Edgar B. Steam who once gave 
me a hand in that department and so, perhaps, failing 
secretaries, A. J. Hodges can spell out a few words for 
M on the morrow.. . 


hut what a wonderful day it would have been 
for picture taking, what with all the Chinese 
magnolias at their lovliest and a gray sky to 
make their lovely whites and pinks the whiter and 
pinker. <. 

A long distance call from A. J. Hodges, Esquire, 
expressed profound regret he couldn't make it 
before Monday. That is too bad for it is 
sleeting tonight which is another waay of saying 
that the Chinese magnolia jig for this year is up. 

\ ’ , , * 1 . ’ ’ • v v ■■ • 1 j ■ ' 

The enclosures are nothing of great moment 
except one which is a matter of vast regret, ~ 

Madam Harco's newest accident. Poor dear and 

^ yjc _ 3ome /, ol 0 95 still having the fortitude to 

go on jiving. I found the most interesting part 
of the letter in the sentence revealing the identity 
of the person who finally persuaded the ultimate 
check-up to reve<fL what was ailing the patient. 

As for Ola ^ae's letter, it doesn't seem to 
be in the nature of a business letter but merely 
a thank you note for the Greahem book. I 
was amused to learn that Carolyn will be bringing Mr. 
Hodges down. They needn't hurry istheir anxious 
to see the magnolias. I advtsed Carolyn that today 
would be the last in which the blossoms would 
appear to the greatest advantage.Naturally I did 
not know that today was the dead-line and 
tonight the finish of theis year's extravaganaa 
in beauty. But it's silly to 
cry over spilled magnolias. 

... ‘ o i 











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9734 


9735 


The radio speaks of the death of Mrs, H, v unbar Ogden 
in .'lew Orleans, Quite a space was given to her activities 
but, oddly enough, nothing was said about her 
survivors, one of whom, L imagine, may be 
Warren although 1 am not sure, I know his 
mother has been ill for months but I never did 
know her name, 

The radio tonight, in. some program out of Washington, 
had, a very interesting symposium on the heart and 
the progress made during the past 10 years in basic research 
on that subject, all of the different doctors talking 
in such a* fashion as to make what they said compre¬ 
hensible to the layman which is certainly novel, 

There was some reference to a new pill I hadn't heard 
about before, one that costs less than asperin and 
is said to be the perfect contraceptive, It's too 
bad Eli 2 abeth'Hansen hadn't heard about that one, The 
pill was mentioned as an innovation in what is hoped 
may be developed in such places as India where over 
popultion seems to defeat all efforts to solve 
economic and political problems that have so long 
be-set the far east. I have no doubt 1 shall be hearing 
a great deal from a variety of religious organisations 
Which seem to make such a racket about 
birth control but the news will undoubtedly 
please Harry Emerson Fosdick who has long d en¬ 
dorsed the idea of "planned famililies*, 

ri9-. I . 

The Louisiana Press Association holds its annual convention 
in Baton Rouge on Saturday a nd Sunday, The Walkers 
invited me to go with them but naturally I declined. 

They have a new advertising man, that is 
one who contacts customers for advertising, whose 
name, oddly enough is Walker, The latest 
rumor i 3 that the evil genius in bedims s set-up, one 
Emile Roper, is bidding Charles Goodbye and 
taking up his residence in Alexandria, and that ought 
to make a lot,of people happy since the departure 
of any member of the c itizens Coucil is 
bound to be a step in the right direction, 

07 . • • • 

And now I must,role up sleeves and get 
to work while outside, J, Frost, Esquire, 
is busy-bus putting a coat of ice on every 
twig, leaf and blossom,,,,,,,. 


Friday, February 80th, 1959, 


Memorandum : 


It 3<W i sot 
tut bi'o 

'9 30 it; Vi 


It wa8 supposed to rain or snow all day and through 
tomorrow but the day remained cloudless from before dawn 
slap through, 

; '■ . • t ■ u o is.'- • 

And in the dawn's early light, Melrose was a garden 
of glass, quite the most astonishing thing you could 
imagine, I gather a fine peolting of rain particles 
must have kept up pretty steadily during the 
early part of the night, encasing everything in a 
thin coating of transparency, producing a wonderful 
effect until ,the direct rays of the sun a bout 9 
o'clock setthings to dripping 

Carolyn telephoned from Alexandria about 10, 

3aying she had spent the night there and was en 
route to atonRouge, and asking if it would be worth 
her while to come up this .way to photograph 
the magnolias, I told her that she has seen the 
magnolias after a freeze and that there was no point 
in making such a detour, 

\ it-. 

She said she had been busy all day yesterday with 
Mr. Hodges at the gardens, photographing camellias $ 
and when she got away in the afternoon, she had headed straight 
south from there to Leesville and thence on into 
Alexandria instead of coming across to 
Natchitoches, A rough geographic layout of the terrain 
might be envisioned by placing the gardens of Hodges 
in the upper left corner, Natchitoches in the right 
Leesville i on the left margin about where the word 
Leesville appears on this page, and Alexandria in 
the lower right corner. It was a little mor direot going 
the way she did but not much and I don t see how 
the time element mattered since at 10 this morning she was 
willing to detour. She is always very kind about 
g'iving people a ride and perhaps she had a friend with her 
who wanted to go to Alexandria, Be that as it may. 








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9736 


Sunday, February SSnd , 1959 


she and Mr, Hodges, by remaining with the camelias, 
lost the 1959 magnolia show at this bend of the river 
a nd that was that, She said she was seeing E3sae Mae, 
of all people, on the morrow, and I didn t ask why, 

There was something about Wild Life and Fisheries to 

confer a bout inBatonRouge, v a guely indicating, perhaps, that 

Ola Mae was with her since the latter has something to do 

with that d parturient but I asked no questions and 

waved her on her way southward • She said something 

about coming out of Hew Orleans sometime next week 

but I didn t even bother to follow that sentence through 

as I know perfectly well 3 he herself has no more notion 

about where she will be next week than a startled starling 

in the bamboo hedge tonight knows where he will be in the next 

second, Poor Rocket, if she d just doesn't fizzle out 

of fuel in full flight, she'll be lucky, 

I suppose Washington's brithday onSunday will be 
celebrated on Monday by the postal boys so that there 
will be no out going mail which means there will 
be an extra day interim, following the posting 
of this memo on the morrow, In view of this, I guess 
I had better bestir myself tonight, writing 
some of my usual Sabbath morning letters 30 I may 
post them onSaturday instead >of Monday, especially to 
Madam Marco, Miss Kate and so on, thus surprising them with 
a day early in the weekly delivery and at the same time 
helping them to avoid the disappointment or panic that 
seems to develops sometimes when Wednesday comes and goes 
without a letter • 

E, Roscoe announces tonight he is seeking a couple 


Memorandum: 

*" . ). ' s ; v. 

Yesterday was air-ish and fair, today warm and cloudy, 
Tonight at 10 the thermometer stands at 6 7 and,after a shower or 
to tomorrow, we are promised five days of fair weather 
which means Spring, 1 suppose, 

: ,•> . iu i . oo , iu -- 

H. "illiams left this morning 

They took Ezra with <. 


J, H, Henry and J, 
for Mobile and a pecane convention . 
them to see about bringing home some sort of a new mechanical 
contrivance for spraying trees, I believe they said they 
were going to attach the thing,to the back of their 
car to bring home, I guess it s not more than 
3 or 4 hundred miles distance but I should imagine that 
might be far enough to tr a oel behind a noise wagon. 

Yesterday, Celeste's nephew, Joe Regard, brought 
his girl friend, living inSt, Martinsville, to spend 
the day, I believe Joe is stationed at Biloxi in the 
military and plans to leave for the' far.Paoifio in May for 
a year and a half's go at things . They oame to see me 
and I thought Mile, Bernard pretty and a bove average 
in intelligence, 

Because Saturday was voting day there was lots of 
doings around the polling place which is next to the store, 
at niln ~hnut 4*30. the cook ta oped at my door, She said she 






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9739 


9738 


(H'W 


Monday, February 83rd, 1959, 




Treasury Department and his wife was a native ofBarcelona and 
she certainly looked like a Spanish bag, Naturally, I bounced 
them out of the house and handed them to their car. 

This opening when I went to supper across the fence, 

I found one of the Reverend Fathers there and he a sked me about 
those pushy people who seem to have left here and gone 
to St. Augustin s, complaining a bout the rough treatment < 
they received over here. If a Treasury, official would perform 
thus, invading private homes when asked expressly not 
to do so, what might one expect of non-Tre a sury people 1 

, ! • • '.A-.".' - 1 . : ' 

t \© 4sod »«'•; o- ,c«. *»*•<: ‘'-f 3 - • 

I was glad to hear both Meet the Press and Face the Nation 
this evening and I liked them both, the Harvad professor 
lacked radio appeal but I thought what he had to say was 
impressive even though his delivery was not. As for the 
Senator lenn y performance, I found it excellent, I had 
not eal ized before how wide the rift seems to be between 
him and Mrs, Roosevelt, I'm inclined to think he 
might make a good Presidential candidate but I am hoping 
that Stevenson will be nominated a 3rd timet —and win, 

I had hoped to get some reading done on Saturday night 
and I didbut it wasn t precisely what I had hoped to 
havq by way of literSture, The fact is that service from 
Essae Mae s library is mighty poor in contrast to the New 
Orleans service and because I has received nothing I 
have ordered within the past two or three weeks, I continue re¬ 
reading the Hamilton biography which is a good book but 
not expressly designed to be read over and over again a dozen 
times in a row. Still, "any port in a stomr", and 
Mr, Hamilton is always good company, 


What with tomorrow supposedly.a holiday, I shall 
set this a side for enclosure with tomorrow 1 . . , 


Memorandum : 

-- * 

. I believe it was supposed to be otherwise, 
but however that may be, it turned out to be one 
of the lovliest days so far this year, all blue and gold and 
neither too warm nor too chill but just right, both 
inside and out. 

At 1:30 Sam Peace knocked on my door, saying there 
was someone to see me at the front gate. It was r, Hodges, 

I know not why but somehow he reminded me so much of Lionel, 
.He liked the place and by way of proving it, remained 
until a quarter to five. 

We did a round and then oollapsed at Tucoa, 

He had been absorbing everything and as he sat down he 
saidt 

, e . 

"I might just as well tell you sinoe I feel 
you sense it already, —-this if the finettthing I have 
ever seen . ," .a 

>. iv..' „ ioa v# -- 

Fortunately some of the outer petals, a dull brown, had 
fallen from the Chinese magnolias and som new blossoms had 
unfolded and he loved them all. He loved the old 
wood in the buildings,, and, surpristngly, he liked the 
primitives, 

. • i • 

As the tour reached little Miss Alberta's sutdio, 

I told him I was especially ansioys to have him note both the 
inside and outside, saying that when he gets 
ready to establish a McDowell Foundation at the Gardens, 
he would remember this particular house and build likewise. 






Francois Mignon Papers, fM-5889 


in the Southern Historical Collection, 


9741 


9740 


Tuesday, February 84th, 1959 


Aa he felt of the timber and examined the oonsHruction 


he paused and listened to me outlining the McDowell 

matter, He said that while the name, McDowell 

Foundation was familiar to him, he had never realised 

what it really 3tood for until that moment, He said I had 

planted an idea in his mind and would I come over and 

wander a bout the (hardens with him and might he send hia 

architect over to see me, It will be interesting to 

see if anything ever comes of this, —a Hodges 

Foundation that will duplicate the McDowell, If 

it should happen, the afternoon will have been well spent, 

and if npthing comes of it, it will have been a pleasant 

afternoon 1 an always look back to with infinite satisfaction 

since if obviously afford the man a heap of 

pleasure, 

f, o y > : M . i: . 1 ' r. •' r • : •• 

Well, os much for the initial Hodges visit, 

Something tells me I shall be seeing more of him and 
his associates both at Melrose and the Gardens, 

• 

And the unending confusion of Washington's 
brithday repeated itself as every holiday does 
in Louisiana, Hie banks were closed, the schools 
were opened, Stores and all business concerns 
functioned as on ordinary days* Even ^ood Friday 
is a surprise in Louisiana for although the majority 
of the people are Protestant, Good Friday everything 
usually closes up tight, I can.make•no rhyme or reason 
out of this holiday business and have 
long since given up trying, 

I am hoping, however, that the Founder's 
birthday is celebrated to the fullest in Lyme 
and accordingly that little Miss Lee had a prolonged 
week end as a result, 

s’ Taiii toi.. = J.l-U ‘ • • • ^ ■" 

Locally, Sweet and Erwin must have s ensed there was 
something special for they visiting somewhere or other and 
didn t get home until the moon had taken over when they 
began screaming for their supper from the front gallery 
and, as soon as I responded, they fell over each other 
in their haste to get to their own basse-cour for the 
food they suspected I would b e bearing for them, And 
now I must dive into some correspondence and then call 
it a day . 


Memorandum: 

K * ' 

He were supposed ti },ave had showers on Monday 
to be followed by five solid sunshtney days, Monday 
was fair and today rainy with a promts of more for 
the morrow, 

* 

I had supposed today might see a double dip 
in the postal section but the mail was about normal, 

I had hoped the Hew rleans contingent might head 
eastward directly from the Crescent City, but it 
appears they may be$in their journey eastward by starting 
northward instead, Well, so be it. 


It is always nice hearing from Lionel and I am 
always relieved when I do see a letter in his hqnd, fearing 
as I do that his health isn't too vigorous, 

It is nice to know Margaret Dixon will try to do something 
for the plastic book, I suppose most editors would assume 
I had a finger in the profits of the plastic book which, as 
you and I know, ^ have not, I do think a flock of 
Baton R ouge people would be interested in having plastic 
books of their weddings and what not, however, and I'm 
hoping that somewhat for their sakes but even more for 
Mr, Mills, that the article may appear and produce results. 

Just after sealing last night's memo, I responded 
to a knock on the door. It was Ola Hue, heading toward Shreve¬ 
port from what I imagine was a week end in Hew Orleans but 
I didn't inquire about that. She mentioned when 
Carolyn would be coming up this way again but I must confess 







From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS* #H~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9742 


9743 


Wednesday, February 25th, 1959. 


to you, believing you will understand, that T didn t even 
Pay any attention to what details she had to. express on 
that point, After all, I doubt very much if Carolyn 
herself ha3 any notion as to where she i3 going to bbe at 
any time and has so developed the habit of tossing out 
tentative dates withoutht the slightest thought of 
following through on them that I have long since 
given up setting any store by them, 

I wa9 glad of an opportunity to discuss a few business 
points with Ola Mae, Obviously i am going to have difficulty 
in sticking to orignal concepts. She suggests we would perhaps 
do better to use black and white illustrations in many cases 
than employing color, Personally » 1 think oolor has more 
sale's appeal than black aud white and the point in using 
color is ba3ed on the fact that since we can use the 
same plate both for the note paper and the 
bridge scores, that expense is cut in half, 

% ■ 

I discovered she preferred having me write to Hollywood 
about securing a transparency of a Horse Soldier shot of 
Oakland which 1 envision using a tid I shall get that 
letter off tonight, If I am successful 
in securing that item, 1 3hall follow it up with another 
request for a few more transparencys from the same Jilm which 
we may find convenient to use when we undertake a 6 'ivil War 
celebration a year hence when national observance of that 
event gets under way, I still think the hundred anniversary 
of that event should be better observed in 3aok cloth f o»d 
ashes than in riotous festivities butpossibly I haven t had the 
• plans properly presented, 

tj ■ ju t>K» *** 

And somehow this reminds me T w a nted to say further b a ck that 
I much doubt the interpretation James put on 
the Murrow leave of absence• It could be true but it seems 
to me very unlikely, 

And so I must turn to some correspondence and thence to 
a dab of radio-ing before slumber overtakes me........ 


Memorandum: 

A beautiful day with ne'er a cloud and the 
same may be s aid for tonight, I am writing a little 
later than usual but for no particular reason other than 
the fact that I listened longer to documentary programs 
of interest, —MoClleland Committe hearings, etc,, and 
t that was followed by an endless telephone call 
from Carmen, notorious for her endless details and 
, tonight 1 wanted to hear them, 

♦ K • 

At 11 :30 this morning, Mr, Hodges secretary 'phoned 
to say that there was to be a regional meeting of representa¬ 
tives of communities between Shreveport and Alexandria, 
h a ving intere sts in t he proposed fil* a»d that 
Mr, Hodges hoped I would be one of the five 
people invited from Natchitoches• I declined with 
thanks, f shall be glad to participate in private confer¬ 
ences at the Cardens but I'm not dreaming of spending my 
time listening to a flock of promoters of various 
communities voice their ideas on something about which 
they know nothing which is the making of a film. 

The meeting was for 2, —certainly a short af enough 
advance notice but Carmen, Thelma and two business men from 
town were there and Carmen reported tonight, 

A letter from ^ames today had mentioned that 
Carolyn had told him at a last week end conference 
that she would be at the burdens on Thursday, Carmen 
said that among those present this Wednesday afternoon at 
the gardens were Carolyn and Ola Mae, And Carmen saeth 
further that Carolyn and Ola Mae will be in Natchitoches 
tomorrow on some business or other. So be it. In the first 
place, they may not try contacting me and secondly, I 











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9744 


9745 


Thursday, February S6th, 2959. 


have cp pointments for both morning and afternoon which I shall 
not alter one jot or tittle • 

***"• t 

Carmen described the uost beds of hyacinths8, 
pansies, calendulas, etc,, etc, and did much about 
the appearance of the dwelling on the island, etc,, 
etc,, and even said Mr, Hodges spoke with so much 
enthusiasm about his Mgndayafterhoon visit over here. She 
also reported everything that everybody had to aoy 
t the meeting which sounded just as dull as I had 
imagined it would. 

In his letter, James mentioned the latonRouge 
Advocate as being one of his pet papers, which I thought 
o» interesting coincidence since I had written him yester¬ 
day that I had had a note from Margaret t>ixon, the 
editor's name he could not recall or did not know, 

I coffeee-ed across the fence with 
both ladies and there-was endless enthusiasm 
on the part of the younger because of all the 
perfectly darlin presents she had received for 
her birthday which was today. 

On the home frmt, I found myself 
enraptured on discovering that Erwin, sly minx that 
she is, has been building a nest and putting 
eggs in it ,, having begun operations last 
Sunday so that she has now built up five eggs 
in the open air nest, concealed beneath a nandiana 
bush in the basse-cour. Both she and Emmet . 

1 continue turnning up their scornful noses at 
the fine residence built for them a year 
or two ago, a sort of Bastille to protect them, 
their nest and their offspring, if any, against 
nocturnal marauders, ut theirs is a free sptrit 
and the dome of Heaven fs the only roof they will 
tolerate and so they pepare for a family which they 
may or may not have sense enough to raise •••••••• 


Memorandum - 


1 

How nice to find the day after, the holiday message 
in tod a y 3 post but it wasn't so nice to learn of the indisposi¬ 
tion in Lyme, I hold the tjiought that prompt care 
has staved off the ailment before it really got 
well started and that by now things may be looking 
up but wonderfully, 

• »• 

It goe3 without saying I was so sorry to learn of 
the passing of the little fripnd, Raving reached the ripe 
old age she had attained, it is not surprising that she 
finally went on her way. It seems a pity she had to 
go through the rigors of the separation prior to her 
dmise for I am sure her absence for that time must have 
been as depressing a s her final withdrawal, following 
her return home, I think it so wise to dispose of 
her furniture forthwith if another is not to replace her, 
and I can readily understand how the deoision to 
avoid another for a little while has been decided upon in 
view of the increasing presence, no doubt, of those 
with whom animals do not always mix too well. 


I am so app eciatipe of all the news you had to share with 
me and although I did not get to the other day's mail and 
to the clipping concerning E, Roscoe, I am preserving that 
with care and shall have a go at it on Saturday morning 
when I am promised secretarial assistance, J smiled 
tonight when Eric Savereid remarked that Mrs, H enry Luce 
got bored with her idleness after Rome and was taking 
the Rio job and suggested Mr, Morrow take note • 

Thursday is usually one of my busier days of the week 
and it wa3 doubly so today, especially in the morniug. 










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cJI-V*! 


9746 


I was expecting people in the secretarial section at 
9:45 by appointment and so, when scurrying home from 
coffee across the fence, I was vaguely surprised to hear someone 
calling me from the direction of the big oak as I entered 
the side gate, It was Ola Mae, Carolyn was somewhere 
on the gallery of the big house parking movie paraphanhHa• 

Ola Mae had to go back to town on business and Carolyn had to 
take pictures, even though I couldn t say the weather was 
too perfect but not too bad, My guests came and I 
joined them long enough to get some papers laid out and then 
I went to give Carolyn a hand, I had her staion her 
tripod along one avenue of Chinese . magnolias whose 
blossoms were too pretty but the carpet of petals beneath 
the trees was pretty enough, I called ^mmet and Erwin 
a nd we walked down the avenue until we came to a bench 
where I sat down and the ducks pushed each other out of the 
way to eat from my hand. Then I got up and■ we walked 
b a ck up the avenue and that was that, 

I lent a hand in getting several shots of the big house 
and left Carolyn thus engaged while * returned to Yucca 
after having picked up the mail and thuswas able to 
read your letter and a lance over an outgoing article 
before dinner time, ”‘o my surprise, Carolyn was 
still here bitt declined tiling, preferring to go on with 
her work, Ola Mae returned as-I was leaving table 
and after a few more pictures, the three of us chatted for 
a while in Yucca,- "Until 1:30, in fact, when they had to 
le a ve to keep a 2 o'clock appointment in Ale xandira. 

Of course they were bouhd to have been late but were they 
ever on time, • 

2 hey spent last night at the Hodges home in the 
Gardens, ■‘■here were several dinner guests and it is 
said one would have supposed their host had just 
discovered MeA.rose a»d me, as of Monday last past • 

I suppose they were going on to Hew >.rleans tonight but 
I didn't ask, 

Mrs, Walker and a Kansas City lady came after they were gone 
a ndOaklahona people called to invite me to dine in town which 


mu 


9747 


Friday, February 27th, 1959, 


Memorandum : . 

A lovely day, sunny but cool with ever increasing 
manifestations of the forward steps of Primavera, 
especially int e neightohood of such flowering bushes 
as the rare white sidonia japonica and the sister bushes 
in red and in orange of the same bushes, popularly 
called the burning bush. In the mean time, 
the Chinese magnolias, thanks to a few breezes, spreads 
an ever widening carpet of white petals and purple 
petals, making the ground almost as pretty as 
the trees from which they fall. 

Fortunately J I had done a d a y S work before 
7:45 this morning when Mr, and Mrs, Charles Pyle 
of Paul Valley, Oklahoma appeared on theWcca gallery. 
They are very nice people and I am puzzled only because 
Mrs, Pyle seems to be a delightful lady but 
wa 3 wearing slacks• Perhaps that s the Oklahoma 
influence • They are collectors if Hunter 
canvases and found a couple to their liking and they 
liked the note paper, too. It is unusual in them that 
they have i\ever manifested the slightest interest in 
meeting the artist • I imagine they have set t he 
tone for their Oklahoma neighbors in that they mentioned 
several who would litfe to invest. It is certainly 
a pity the barracades are so inconveniently placed 
at this source of supply • 


f 






Francois Mignon Papers, #11-3889 


9748 


9749 


Sunday, March 1st, 1959 


At long last, the Sta^e Library came through with 
a couple of books today , cer ainly nothing T ordered 
but books, nevertheless, which is something, I put 
o?ie on the machine this noon to discover the title, and 
from that information, am convinced I a m going to enjoy 
a bit of reading tonight, the title being "Random 
Thoughts on America by Jacques Itari tan,,,,,,interruption,,,, 
did J say Jacques Mari tan, —Carmen called to gossip, 

1 Mas interested to learn the democrats have decdied 
on Los Angeles for their Convention, Curiously, I don't 
seem to reoall anything at all about the differences 
in time of the West Coast conventions last time in 
any inconvenience that made in mid-west reception 
of their doings, ^urely night sessions on the west coast 

are bound to be received pretty late on the east coast and T 
3hould think ChicaQo would be a point of better balance 
in considering the listening public coast to coast, It is 
possible, howe er, that many people, like myself, can really 
stand it if they don t learn until the morrow 
what the politicians are up to* Was it the old Ag a 
or ^somebody else who once responded negatively 
when asked if he intended going to the races one afternoon 
by remarking that one of the horses running was 
bound to win and he could wait to get•the news in town 
without getting all tangled up in the crowds at the race 
trackQrandpa, whom I have seen in 36 hours, just now banged 
on the screen door, catching the screen with his paw, pulling 
the door open and then letting it gently slam, This 
is to proclaim he is ready for a glass of milk. He 
got it and I noticed when on the gallery that a light shines 
from the direction of the big house, I reckon one or another 
I hope not more, of the Shreveport contingent, has come f or 


Memorandum : 


Lovely, clear, cool weather, just perfect, I reckon 
for the atchez ladies this week end to get their business 
nuder full steam, 

I am so glad to have the Times clipping a bout the 
Pilgrimage from the construction of which it was obviously 
issued through the Pilgrimage rather than the Garden Club, 
since the Garden Club played second fiddle all the way through, 
I was interested to s ee how the ladies have been adding a 
few years to the age of all their houses except Longwood 
which was so definitely tied in with the CivilWar that they 
couldn t push back its dates, I notice they give 
Melrose a much earlier date, for example, that that mentioned 
by B, L, C, iV ailes in his diary, a nd I trust his diary since 
he mentions stopping at the place under construction, I 
notiqe that.they give one or two place, including Devereux, 
the year 1840 when everybody knows there wasn't a mansion 
in America built in that year of the Jackson-Biddle 
depression. But the Pilgrimage ladies never did ■ care about 
history except as to serve their hoop skirt business, nad 
if either .history or skirt were twisted, they didn't mind . 

And 'thanks, too, for sending me the note a bout Marlborough 
House being conveyed by the Queen Mother to the Government, 

This creation of Sir Christopher Vrenn has always interested me 
so much and I'm glad to keep up with .its career. 

The Murrow article was quite illuminating, especially 
the part qbout .the differences in viewpoint between E, Roscoe 
and C, B, S, I wonder if there will be a return to 









Francois Mignon Papers, M-5889 


Monday, March 2nd, 1959 


Memorandums 

Such a lovely d y with moderate temperature and 
a cloudless shy and the promise of duplicates 
for the morrow in both departments. 

I take it the pecafie orop must be about gathered 
a t long last for Murphy came to lend me a hand today 
and I never get him before the harvest has been 
completed. Ve began our week a little after 6 and 
by 9 o clock had dug up 8 or 10 crepe myrtles 
some dozen feet in height and h a d set them out along 
the fence where formerly the ol l d store had stood. 
ihen set Murphy to cutting last year's ribbon 
grass while I headed home to gather up the mail 
which I wanted to drop before stopping for coffee. 

Before dashing out of the house, however, J responded 
to a telephone call. It was from the Rocket, calling 
from town. She had to go over to the gardens but 
decided she could use some sunshine shots of what is 
left of the Shi neae magnolias a nd accordingly reach 
here at 10, loaded several cameras and was on the 
jump until 3, pausing onlv for a brief twenty minutes 
for a bite of dinner, and pausing not ever to 

collapse, following the final 3 o'clook shot. 

• ° - . , '• 

I think she got some pretty effects such as a 
broad expanse of the big house with the live oak in 
the foreground, some studies of the various groups 
of magnolias, one or two of cabins, different shots of 
the African House and one or two of Yucca with much white ducks 


the same microphone in 2960• Personally, I think 
E. Roscoe and E.S a vereid are the best commentators CBS now 
has and I feel we can't afford to lose the former and I hold 
the thought we may never lose the latter, even fo a vacation. 

Did 1 mention that in my last letter to Eric Savereid, I told him 
I wished that sometime when politics weren't bubbling too 
mightily, 1 wish he would try his hand at doing the Jefferson 
mansion over at Charlottesville # I should so muc like 
to see how he would handle such'a topic. 

John Wenk was here for the week end. He said-things 
were goii)g along pretty good at home and that his father 
had spent a night or two with his family recently. J. H. 

... J-l. - _ -4. 1. . M I. ..I J 1 T « tam +h f lino ntxinn Ilia 7 7 n't nil 


on the other haild, telle me things areirt going well at all, 
a nd so I know no more than I did. 

l‘he week end was uneventful in everything except the 
reading department an$ I loved every minute of that. I 
finsi ehd the Jacques Maritain Random Reflections and, to 
my delight, discovered Mrs. Roosevelt's "On My Own" 
was to hand. It is such a pleasure to read whatevershe has to 
say that I might as well confess I sat up later than 
I should have .last night, 3imply enjoying myself. I find it 
so interesting the way she refers to Sir Winston during her 
week end visit to Windsor. It is so obvious that neither 
one of those personalities can 3tand the other. I have 


attributed much of their mutal dislike to some chemical .difference 
a nd have added to that that she probably thinks of him as 
much too old school andRuleRritannia in his way of thinking and 
I fa n <:U he ~bbink3 of her a s h a ving no place in the political 
world which he probably reserves exclusively for men. 

Much more to chatter about but I'lj be doing just 
that 0 n the morrow....... ...(Celeste was delighted with 

tne message from Lyme........ 







From the FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers# #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9752 


9753 


but stills in color also, and again the same thing 
in black and white and then a iiother special thing for 
use in slides. She chanced to have but a single tripod with 
her which meant that everything had to be dismantled for 
two additional type9 of camera and then 3tart all over 
a gain with the same trinity for the next location. 

Secretaries were plentiful, of course, while I was 
lending a h a nd at the movie business but I f never saw 
ny of them after her departure and I didn t care batause 
I wanted to devote the balance of the day exclusively 
toMurphy's endeavors which I had been hopping bach 
and forth to look after in between times. there seemed 
to be only a few letters, notfe of which struck me as of 
much interest and so I haven t opened them but will set them 
aside for the morrow One of them, 

bearing a s an Francisco c a ncellation feels suspiciously like 
a weddjng invitation a nd the others appeared no more exciting. 

I guess it was this last week end there wa$ another 
Monteleon conference with James and a tea or something 
with Kay. Kay seems to be possessed at the moment of 
James' point of view and so things are calm in that 
quarter. Aunt "illie seems quite vigorous some times and 
not so vigorous at other times. It is said there has 
been nomarital allowance since the first of the year in 
accordance with a request by the husband • He does not seem 
interested in the movie job. I wonder how long the 
Pontalb a s will hold up under such arrangements. 

w hile working a * taking pictureswe solved a 
problme to indioate swiftly on film the passage of years and 
somehow avoided the conventional method and filming of 
that 3equencs, it is 3cid, will get'under way on the morrow. 

l we so glad to hear Invitation to Learning's discussion 

of Justice 0. W. Homes Common Law and now I shall turn to 
Mrs • Roosevelt and then call it a" day •••••••• 


Tue saday, March TiTtb, 1959. 

t" ' •' 


Memorandum : 

Perfectly lovely, cloudless day • 

I don't know why 1 got the impression that Mesdames 
Milling and Henderson were going to Hew Orleans or frather 
to Natchitoches from New Orleans and would telephone me 
for an appointment, —those ladies Kay mentioned 
in her recent letter . But, be that as it may, when I was up 
to my hips in gardening, a s lave a rrived from, the s tore, 
saying there were some ladies to see me and there they 
were. Both the gardens and the. house were in a mild 
state of shambles but that didn't seem to matter much 
and we really had quite a nice tour and subsequent sitting. 

.As they had met me ins\ide the front gate, 1 had assumed 

their car had been parked som&mhere near the store but 

when'I returned with them to the highway at the 

end of their visit, I discovered their car was there and 

their Ethopian chauffeur awaiting them. I think they 

were mildly surprised when I remarked that I thought the 

chauffeur, a resident of New Orleans, should catch a 

glimpse of the African buildings if he cared to, and he seemed 

to care and the ladies didn't mind and so they strolled 

among the flowers while Africa looked at African houses. 

I am mildly sur^rsed to find vocal re-action, mostly 
unf a vorable, about Perils of the Beep, resentment 
being expressed at what I had to say about Mr. Julies 
a nd his propensity for getting about the world like 
ship furniture, uvfooked, on a boat in a pitching sea. 

Like everybody who does a column, I, too, am delighted 
to get reactions, favorable or unfavorable, since it 
obviously indicates the column is being read. 


I 






From the FRANCOIS MiGNON Papers , #H-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9754 


1 he old, familiar, be-loved name of Marly 
cropped up in the news tonight whenD a vid Schoenbrunn, out of 
Paris, spoke of the impending visit of the German 
Chancellor to the French President, the conference to 
be held in the hunting lodge at Marly, My impulse is to do an 
article on that slim thread since it was a Marly that 
the birthday of Natchitoches was first observe\ December 28t\f, 
1714, but I seem to have seve a 1 other ideas for columns in 
mind and so will probably not get around to do this one . 

On Monday, Carolyn mentioned again that several 
times during the past couple, of weeks, Mr, Hodges 
h a s mentioned my column about the Natchitoches 
Many road, I think I may do another on that 

G eneral subject, under some such title as 
heRoad to Paradise • If Mr, Hodges sponsors some more 
movie 3 , he might do well to use such a title, it seems 
to me, since it seems to have'a certain appeal to the imaginati 
tion, and surely if such a. film were made when the flowers are 
at their zenith, lots of the scenes could suggest a 
he a venly character, 

I h a ve read a bit further in Mrs, Roosevlet3 s 
On My Own and found much for delectation. She mentions 
Elliott's wife's name as Minowah or some such. It s a new 
name in my limited experience and I know nothing 
about the gal, I thought it obvious that 
Mrs, Roosevelet was provoked with Minowah when 
the 4 ‘lliott R oosevelts were with her in Morocco and 
the young lady made quite a racket about '■the food 
served at a banquet •• .All I can say for Minowah, 
she must be quite a character if she can keep up with a 
personality like that of her husband, 

In -the gardening section, it is surprising how 
fast the white ribbon grass, like milk gurgling up from 
the rich brown earth, has emerged during the past 24 hours 
and how swiftly the flowering bushes are filling in with color 
, the vanishing f a brics3 of white and <-pink where last 
week the magnolias flowered so abundantly, In short, 

Spring is on the march and I hold .the thought her 
v footsteps may soon be marked by crocuses and daffodills 
in the enviors of Lyme . 



9755 


Wednesday, March Grd, 1959, 


Memorandum ; 

Another lovely Spring day and another mountain of 
gardening undertaken and fairly well overcome, 

I found both ladies at home when I ventured across 
the fence for 9 o'clock ooffee, 2 he younger was in a mild 
tizzy, due, perhaps in part, to the novelty of finding herself 
at home, N er mother had told me on Monday that 
her daughter was then a t the beauty shop getting worked on, 
having cp pointments for every day and twice a day for the 
bal guce of the week, 17tis morning's tizzy was 
caused by the fact that the Joel I’letohers of Southwestern 
were coming this way on the morrow, bringing three people 
with tl\em, two of them historians, who wanted to have a 
look at Melrose, dhey had called from Lafayette and 
were bidden for noon dinner as the lady hostess had an 
(P pointment for some sort of a frolic 

in twon at 2, They would arrive about 10, the guests. Of 
course the guests will be spending more time on this 
side of the fence than the other but that is understandable, 
especially as the Fletchers like this side of the fence 
and their historian friends will probably find as much 
to interest them as one thide of the fence. Of course 
I am planning to have secretarial asssitance on the t 
morrow, too, and a couple of carpenters 
to do some floor repairing and that will be easy . 
to manage aL ong with the five visitors sinoe 
I have nothing by way of a frolic calling me * 
to town, 

Thi3 week's Enterprise will probably carry an 

' a 











i 








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9756 




9757 


account of the burial of a new born baby which 
is an interesting story only in that there seems to 
be grave doubts on everyone s part as to the murderer 
of the child, The 16 year old unwed mother and the 
girl's mother both seem to be a little uncertain 
a s to which, if either, bumped off the aforesaid child, each 
lady claiming that she herself turned the trick, and 
I cannot imagine how a judge co uld decide in such a case, 

when the daughter tries to protect the grandmother, the grandmother 

the daughter, and thus the assumption of guilt convinces 
nobody and all that seems certain is that the child 
was cloutted on the head and buried and that was that • 

. 

I knocked off a letter to James in which 
I rema ked that in the event he should go aL ong with 
Carolyn in the movie making, it might be advantageous 
d 1 around if he made the acqud ntance of Mr, Hodges, should movie 
1 bors bring him within any proximity of the gardens, 
lAe reason I mentioned this is because I feel that should 
the Mac^owell thing ever come into being, a poet might 
like to make use of a lodge on occasion, 

• 

It is said that the Fletchers with their guests will 
spend this a f ter noon in tom and then proceed to Many where 
they will spend the morrow following in the Gardens of 
the &odges, Jhis strikes me as odd for I have an idea 
that Natchitoches has much more pleasant sleeping 
places, the Flectchers have anephew who is head of the 
local radio stattion and might want to entertain the .travelers, 
and as the tip to Hodges from ^atchiothces is only 50 miles, it 
would seem as though that could as well be aohieved 
in the dawn’s early light as in the gloom of night 
when it would be necessary to search for a place ‘Perk for 
the balance of the night, 

U& T i.: T: ..li ' Is,.' ■ K "- 

It is odd but only a few days ago did I learn that 
Fort Jessup, on the road to Many is being rebuilt, in fact is 
nearly completed under the direction of W, W, Wells of 
the Hark Commission and adds another historical monument to 
the neighborhood, And now I must get to work 

but hope to make a less dull memo on the morrow,,,,,,•• ______ 


Thursday, March 5th, 1959, 


Memorandum : 

I can't say just why but I am under the 
impression I have been dating all my letters this 
week a day behind. But I believe I am 
in,order once more and I'm glad. 

We had a nice warm one inch rain last night 
and today has been partly cloudy a sort of 48-ish, with a breeze 
that denuded most of the Chinese magnolias that had survived 
until today's breeze, t 

My day has been a little on the hurly-burly 
side, primarily because of the carpenters pounding 
for they are working today on the bathroom* floo'i and tomorrow I 
suppose they will be taking up the boudoir floor to strengthen 
the supports beneath it and I shot 1 probably move into the 
living room for a day or two and I shall be glad when things are 
straightened around once more which I hope may be before Sunday, 

I was happy.to have my entire morning for secretarial 
assistance and the absence of guests producing happi¬ 
ness on this side of the fence did not provoke the same joy on 
the other side for the ladylf the grapevine reports, was in 
a panic because her dinner guest3 didn't.arrive until 
after IS, I gathered them up a little after 1 and 
she went on her way to town and I held them on this 
side of the fence until nearly 3. 

^ I was interested to learn from Dr, Fletcher, one of the guest 
s' that Innocent Metoyer, offspring of FatherBegis and the 
s' granddaughter of Loui s Metoyer, Jr,,.had crossed 
/ the color line and a while back had become a 

member of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce • What 
a flurry would be in that a uguest assembly if they knew 
the not too distant ancestors of one of thier members. 






From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS, M-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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■+ 


*-< i>*i 

\ 


f 






9759 


i *'•" * 


The day's post had two or three items of 
an entertaining nature, especially the one from Bootsie 
Gay who seems to keep on writing even though I 
haven't honored her last three or four with a response. 

I find the one from A. J. Hodges very 
kind. I find it rather characteristic of his some¬ 
what cagey manner in that the invitation is a 
repetition of the one he extended while here in pur¬ 
suance of the conversation about MacDowell and 
the possibility of a Hodges Foundation for the Arts. You 
will note he mentions about walking about the place, 
which is what he mentioned before, but at that time, when 
speaking, the point of the walk was to see where 
I might find a place that would be likely for 
the location of the Foundation, preferably a wooded 
section where the individual homes might be 
the more privately situated, the one from the 
other but, you will notice, he skips di y reference to 
Foundations. I reckon I shall go overone day this 
Spring but obviously the advnace toward redL iza^icn of 
the idea will le sedate in its advance toward 
realisation, I must say, I never read 
. .a letter from a business man that was so lacking in 
the usual brevity that characaterize the correspondence 
of such people and somebody said A. H. Hodges is 
at the top of the finqncial ladder in a State that seems 
to number so many people of vast wealth. I'm wondering 
if he is as leisurely and cautious about bringing in 
his oil wells, 

1 -V • • 

I think I forgot to mention, in reference to Boosie, 
that her remarkft about being only a few blocks 
from the mountains doesn t surprise me greatly since 
I should guess off hand that anybody living anywhere in 
Colorado might well be able to say the same thing in 
all truth, Smile. 

D fciRtOfcd lA <3:4 “ 

, v ^ V" '13 " *' •' v ' 'V ' ' ‘ 

So slides along the March calendar and now for a dab 
of desk work and then for a round with the last few 
pages of "On J ly Own" .. 


Friday, March 6th, 19 59. 


Memo rand urn: 

A lovely day butcool and more of the same promised 
for the week end. 

I was astir a little earlier than usual this morning 
because I wanted to have all decks cleared before the men 
,i arrived to concentrate on putting ,in some new flooring in the 
section where my desk and reading machine stand beneath 
the picture window. 

I, think ,they did a pretty good. job and things are back 
in place again tonight, much to my satisfaction, 

\ * • 

It was a little after ,4 when the rattle and bang of the 
hammers had ceased, I mentioned seme shelving was in order 
in. the west room and the speaker for the crew said they would 
undertake the job early Monday morning as they had a few 
other things to do before 5:30 which, at the moment, is going 
home time. Knowing their weakness, I said that would be 
just fine and that I would certainly be looking for them bright 
and early. hen I added the punch line to the effect 
that I had hoped to give them a drink before they left this 
evening but as .1. had moved the stuff behind a heap of stuff 
in the west room, I could not get at it until I had moved 
ou$ much impedimenta and that I would not do that until 
I could avoid handling the duffle twice, having it mind 
to move it just once, from floor to shelves and that I would do 
that on Monday when the shelving was in place. 

This seemed to throw a different light on their 
afternoon schedule and after inquiring about the time, they 
concluded that on the contrary to their original estimate, 
it might indeed be possible to get the shelving up 
this evening. And, Lol they did. And Lower, I discovered 
q drink all around and they departed happy and I fell to work 
with much delight in setting things to right, even as I 
had expected to. 

Today's mail wasn't muc'h but I was glad to hear from 

• •. 1 J'. ' J ‘ ^ 1 - 






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9761 


9760 


Sunday, March 8th, 1959 


Memorandum: j > 

Partly cloudy and partly cook in the 60's, 
with o promise of ai n for tonight and warmer by Tuesday, 

I, for one, am in no hurry for summer and so find 
myself qite contented with the weather if it jogs 
along somewhat sedately, t 

Saturday ' a post brought the enclosures 
which speak for themselves, The one from James 
3uggest3 some 3ort of a break in the offing but I'll 
know more about that by 10 days hence, T suppose, 
when Kay passes this way. 

In the same mail bringing Xobina's letter came a carton 
from BatonRouge containing the recorded Readers Digest for February 
and naturally I read with addad interest the article about the 
Go ernor of Arkansas which seemed mild enough to be although 
quite interesting. In view cf the 

ether excellent articles in the seme istuc, it strikes 


Hollywood in response to a letter, w ntten to The 
producer of the Horse Soldier, asking about a transparenc 
showing Yankees in the Oakland avenue which I proposed m 
on note paper, The letter on legal stationary, reports i 
the stills in color are all at nited Artists in Hew Yorl 
instructions have been forwarded to that organisation to 
supply the transparency• I'll send the letter to Ola Mat 

From the clerk I learned today that the Shreveport 
physician is living with his wife and offspring again. 
Some people, T suppose, might call it living, J, H, 
did not appear at supper and the clerk reported that he 
had gone to Shreveport, I hope things aren t 
giving 'way at the seams again. It was expected 
John Wenk might return with J. H, to spend his eek end 
here as usual. Perhaps he will and perhaps others will, 
I psvtd pen these lines a little a fter 9 and 
the big house seems to be in darkness. Perhaps the trav• 
haven t reutned as y&.t, 

I was glad to learn from the Joel Fletchers 
yesterday that they had planned on having a pa rty for 
me at outhwestern shortly after “aster, —glad because 
it is always nice to be thought of, but T didn t give 
them any encouragement a bout going ahead with the plans. 
When I go to Lafayette, I shall visit Lionel and perhaps 
do a bit of touring in the Hew Iberia neighborhood but 
the thought .of a frolic at Soutwes tern sounds too dull 
to intrigue me although I'm sure there would be 
lovely people and besides I like the would-be 
/lost and hostess but I preserve the more intimate 
contacts with Lionel's associates to the 
prospect of a big party where one would meet a 
hundred nice people and get to talk- to ■. • 


And now I must get busy and knock off half a dozen 
letters and so flatten out fairly early for I want to catch 
up a little on new3 and I don't mind folding up my 
beard fairly early in the wake of all the local 
confusion on the local scene since this past dawning, 

I ‘ihold the thought that Lyme may escape the eastward sweeping 



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Monday, March 9th, 1959 


'j’,' j being questioned 

ii :e :jl data which one assumes to be classified material. 

Last week when Overton Brooks, a dullish sort of 
politician, was talking about shooting at 
Venus on June 2nd which may or may not be 
secret, And then, tonight, Abe Silver- 
stein, head of the program,of Outer Space, was con¬ 
fronted by the Brooks statement about which Silverstein 
obviously didn't want to talk about. I thought 
it quite interesting when the latter,re- 

r* _ r< ir a .-7 +.hn+. n ohnn+.inn n ± Venus*" mns*n i unite 


Memorandum : 

’ T/e had a nice quarter of an inch of rain last night 
and today was cool and bright, 

Mine slaves put in an appearance at dawning 
and I was accordingly gh d I had my desk work out of the 
way aginst today before folding up my beard last 
night. * t 

The postman was a little earlier thdn usual this 
morning but I caught up with him before he departed 
although I should have been as happy had he been a little oemna 
time, enabling me to withdraw a c’ouple of letters which 
I should not have sent, had I received the telephone calll 
earlier that came through just as I passed this 
way on my return from the Post Office. he 
•phone call was from Western Union in-town, reading me 
a telegram from AtlantaIt was from Maude 
Eberhardt and already you know, even as I did when the 
operator announced a telegram from Atlanta, what 
the nature of the new3 must be. 1 

Tike message stated that Madam Marko died 
yesterday qnd would be buried on Monday. Tlie < 
office isn t open in Natchitoches on Sunday and 
30 I reckon the message was probably sent yesterday 
’ but wasn “t received until today• Possibly 
it opens p by 8 o'clock butat that hour I was bogged down 
with slaves, although it is possible the call dtdn t . 

come until mid morning for the clerk asked me at noon if 1 9° z 
a call mid morning, saying' that Western Union had called me 
8 tore, asking for my number. 

% V. ■ 1 v 

And so Madam Marko h a s gone on to her reward and there s 
no doubt in my mind that she was welcomed with joy and given 
„ ninue in the verv front row for white wings would become her ana 


Marked that "shooting at Venus n wasn t quite 
correct since present instruments do~not reveal 
exactly where Venus is within from 35 ro 50 thousand 
miles Off hand it would 

appear that for the moment, at least, Venus may continue 
serenely on her way, so far as any liklihood of interference 
from the rocket boy3. 

On a somewhat more somber note, I must confess to 
you that I have felt an inexplicable uneasiness 
all day, especially when penning letters to 
Madam M a roo and Maude Eberhardt , In all the 
hundreds of letters I have written Nrs. Brandon, 

I have never found the phrases to stick, the 
sentences to get clogged the way they have’ today. 

Frankly, I feel as though today's message had been 
written to someone who would never read it, I reckon 
my indigestion last night may be a better explanation 
than anything else for I am not one who goes in 
much for premonitions although in this instance I 
must say the feeling is so peculiar that I, cannot but 
remark upon it in the hope that a letter from 
that direction later this week may prove that my forbodings 
were based not at all on reality and that Miss ellie 
is good for at least another decade 

And now I must do a couple little chores in 
rfi ticipation of more carpenters at dawning and I like to 
h a ve things ready for them before they arrive. I hold 
the thought that peace has been a primary ingredient in f 
the Lyme neighborhood this week end and that Spring isn t 
too far in the offing,,.,,,.. 






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9764 


cKJVf! 


9765 


Memorandum ; 


Tuesday, March 10th, 1959, 


hers is the type of brow for which aureoles are made • 

For her sake, I cann'ot regret her departure for 
3 urely she has been ready quite a while and often 
it must have been a struggle for her to keep all banners 
flying when there were so many physical handicaps, not 
to mention af the burden of her 95 years. As 
you know, I loved and cherished her and so long as I live, 

I always shall• At the same time, I feel 3he 
30 richly deserved the rest for which her age entitles her 
and the blessings of B ea ven which I have no doubt are 
now her 3 in abundance, 

I am sorry that Maude will be receiving the 
two Sunday letters I wrote them un er separate covers, al¬ 
though, as always’, contrived for them jointly but perhaps 
Maude will ntt mind llaturally, I got a message 
off to Maude forthwith which somehow will make the one 
or rather the two reachi'ng Morningside Drive on Wednesday seem 
a little odd- but, on second thought, 1 feel sure she wont mind, 

As I hung up the receiver on the Western Union 
call, 7 r,y 'phone rang again, —some dishy chatterbox in town 
I didn't need Vo talk with and as I replaced the 
receiver, another call, —Ora, asking if 1 would receive 
a Miss Caraway for an interview on the morrow, I would, 

, Then I jumped b„ck into the over-seeing job of the 
four sets of slave whom I had separated into groups engaged 
at undertakings far apart, —building fence for the greater 
gourd garden, putting up more shelves in this house, trimming 
crepe myrtles and hailing o\it trash. And to keep-things going 
briskly, and they did go briskly, I expended a lot of encouragement 
and was glad to have so much to require my attention 

And day comes to a close and we say Goodnight to 
Madam Marko in complete assurance tier dreams will 

be sweet,,,,,,,,,, 


. Another lovely, sunny day with the thermometer mounting 
steadily and le a ves opening at a great rate on bushes 
and flowering trees, I reckon it must be about 
75 outside now at 9 p,m,, and a cloud coverage 
since darkness suggests the weather man may know 
what he was talking a bout when he promised showers for 
tonight or early in the morning, 

I got another half dozen slaves at dawning and, 
therefore I m six times more tired tonight than I should 
have been without them, I left a couple of them alone 
for two minutes, —the pair that was3Upposed to be trimming 
crepe myrtles and I returned to find them graduated 
from the crepe myrtles to the Chinese magnolias, I 
left another pair busy extending a fence in the gourd 
garden only to return two minutes later to discover that 
they had appropriated sections of another piece of fence, 
needed to round out the enclosure, to complete the 
new section on which they were momentarily 
engaged . hat seemed to be getting no where fast, 

I left the carpenters alone for a couple of minutes and 

returned to discover that they . but you get the 

general idea without further enumeration. 

At coffee this morning, I saw only the elderly lady, 
der d a ughter had gone down to Alexandria because she thought 
Dee d e rtzog might need her, Thi s morning at 3, Mat Hertzoq 
had a heart attack, —his second within a couple 
of years and was whisked,off to Alexandria and the 
hospital by ambulance, the lady doctor traveling with him 
to administer oxygen while en route. Naturally, Dee, 
hiswife, went aling and Celeste -followed suite. Tonight at 
supper, I learned that Mat is doing alright but will, 
of course, remain in the hospital indefinitely, 

I was glad to chat a little with Madam Regard, s he asked me 


\ 














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9766 


9767 


Wednesday, M arch 11th, 1959. 


if I was depressed about adam Marko and I said I was not. 
my more than a parent might be distressed if his child 
graduated from some institution of higher learning, feeling. 
as I do, that Miss Nellie hg.s done just that and 
is the sweetest girl-graduate of the season. 

1 took time out this afternoon to receive 
a couple of young ladies from the college about 
whom Ora had telephoned me , merely asking ~if 
I, as a favor, would do. I didn't a 3 k 
any questions and it only occurs to me now that 
possibly one- of the young ladies, 
a Mi33 Caraway, was perhaps getting material 
for an article about me although she said on 
arrival, she wanted to do an article on Melrose. 

I gave her quite a song and dance on ye oldee 
plantation but the only time she made use of her 
note book was to jot down my telephone number 
which I suggested she make use of if she found herself 
stuck in the midst of her ariicle and needed 
assistance in gettiitg herself extricated. A while 
b a ck, —and I h a d forgotten it until just now, 

I had given Ora a couple of introductory paragraphs 
for a Cane iver Memo on "Seeing Ourselves A 3 Others 
See Us , and perhaps today's visit was merely 
to see and what, if anything she saw, may come out 
later in some column. 

Today's post wasn't much . he Mrs . Hamilton 1 
was with ttie Fletchers last Thursday. As for the 
other enclosure, it is interesting for the reason 
it sets forth for not participating in any Rocket ventures. 

I respect the reason as set forth but I'm not 
sure of the- circumstances, e specially domestic, that 
probably prompts it. 

And so runs the day and so I must turn to 
a little work before doing a Moko....... 


emorandum- 

We had such a changeable doings in the weather 
today, his morning was so warm I had to. don a 
short sleeve shirt but at noon, thanks to a 
switch in the breeze from south to north and a 
quick, short rain, I h,ad to look up a warm 
garment. It was cloudy during the warm morning and 
sunshiney during the cold afternoon. T 0U igi l -f ; both 
the ,clouds and the coolness have combined and it 
should be an excellent night for sleeping, especially 
as I should like to use an electric pad for my game left 
elbow and cooler nights are much better for electric 
pads, I must ay. 

• J • ' 1 ' J 

I had coffee with Madam Regard agct-in <.this morning. 

On her return from Alexandria last evening. Celeste 
announced she was going to a funeral today in Mansura 
or some such place and she had not returned by first dark, 
although she had left rather early this morning but 
not quite so early as she had anticipated, according 
to her mother's report. 

It seems that right after breakfast, expecting to get 
away early, she jumped into a new frock with a zipper up 
the back, —and, of course,. you know the rest. Once 
above her hips, the zipper stalled and wouldn't move either 
up or down. She enlisted Madam Regard's help but 
soon went into a tizzy when nothing happened e.ither way. 

Too impatient to wait for furtherassistance in that quarter, 
she hopped into her car and drove to the store where 
she got her husbpnd and the c^erk to free her. ^'hey labored 
in vain. At least they weren spry enough 
to 3Uit Vie lady which impelled her to fly out of that 
place and head down the road in her car to the cabin where 
her house servant lives. Eventually greater success was 
achieved a »d so departure for the funeral followed forth¬ 
with. 


My zippers gave me no trouble today but I was 









From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS, M-5889 

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9768 


arch 18th, 1959 


sufficiently busy, nevertheless, with 7 or a slaves . 
so that 1 kept pretty much on the jump regardless i. u 

we got quite a lot of work done by way of carpentry work, 
trimming stuff and hauling stuff out, maI(1n _ v 

cleaning generally and erecting bamboo Acme wo r* . 
for greater gourd gardens against planting that will 
probably get under way within the next couple of weeks. 

I had the good luck tonight to stumble over 
the same Invitation to L earning program on a Little Bock 
station that i had heard Monday nijht oven a Hew 
Orleans one. Perhaps you heard the s ame one on 
Sunday last post, —c discussion of Sophocles 
Antigone. I enjoyed the second go-round 

as much as the first and probably enjoyed them both 

the more in consequence of the refresher in 
gGreek as provided by the recent reading of Edith Hamiltc 
Mythology. One point touched on by 

the participants in tonight’s symposium was the fact 
that the word Conscience isn t to be 
found in the Old 'testament . Frankly, * had never 
thought about that point before It is 'interesting that 
and e specially t e old testament, doesn t *»«.«**»*• n^rilh- 
denouncing a king if he is a bag I suppose divine righ 
originally much more oriental than in theMediterranean 
neighborhood, "excusin' Egypt perhaps. It was suggested 
that Sophocles about 550 B.C. in this play was ™isi p 
the point that an individual might have anght to question the 
dictum of the, ruler and e ver since the old, old 
rumpus as to which is higher, conscience or civil law, 
and I don't reckon the point will ever be settled. 

My radio says the mid Atlantia States are heading in for a 
possible snow storm on this eve of the great 
blizzard of 1881. May the snowflakes not drift too heavily 


Memorandum 


I listened with'particular attention to see 
what was being said about weather in Eyme on tonight’s 
r a dio. CBS reported much slush in that area, I regreeted 
to h ar. It was said the South was fair and warm, which 
was only half true for fair is was all day but a ir-ish. 

Eight workmen were agin sent Yuaca way at dawning and 
my day was a busy one. I ought to be sleepy tonight 
after much physical activity in the bracing air f but it 
i8 already a quarter before midnight and I don t seem 
sleepy. I am glad a bout this fori am bound to 
knock off a column before folding up my beard and a flock 
of interruptions and desk work have prevented me from 
accomplishing much. 

James telephoned about 9:30. He seemed in a happy 
frame of mind. He had sent his manuscript, 

Jallon, Prince of Hatches, to Elisabeth Murry, perhaps 
m a rried to a Hr, Johnson, --the lady who published in Dallas 
his Fabulous Fij-ty^two. $he is now living in California. 

The 'manuscript pleased her and she sent it to Houghton-Mifflin 
and says if they don’t accept it for publication on her say-so, 
she knows she will see it through the press somewhere else. 

I am so glad that this has happened at just 
this time before Kay and Aunt Willie, leaving a week 
from today for South Carolina, will have such news to 
accompany them. James reported a pleasant session with Kay 
on Monday night and believes everything will be alright if she 


was 




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CiV> 


9770 


returns forthwith from Charleston, I certca, nly hope 
those two may have a chance to get along with their 
marriage before long, and, of course, without 
third party interference % 

here are some enclosures Ijo be sent with this- memo 
or under separate cover, 1 don t recall that any of them 

are of much interest although Del Chockley continues writing 
a n excellent letter and, of course, you will be as 
a mused as I to learn that Harry is about to head 
out on another European jaunt and that the two of them 
plan another round of the Orient this autumn . How those 
two people do get a bout . hey must be some kin 
to the Socket except that she is forever on the go*tn 
trips of only a few hundred miles while they seem to incline 
more toward the globe trotting type of exhaustion, 

• 

Among today's gardening projects w a s to make a 
b a mboo trellis at the west end of Yucca where I shall 
plantx some gqurds this season, &y sinking 
post into the ground and erecting bamboo poles along side 
for height, what emerges in appearance is the framework of 
a shet without shingles and siding, Uy assumption is, 
of course, that God will not smite the gourds I plant 
a nd that their leaves will provide sides and roof of greenery 
, a nd that by mid summer, big old gourd3 will seemingly 
be hanging from the b a mboo rafters. 

At the same time this construction work was going on, 
efforts at bringina the new groud garden beyond 
little Hiss Alberta's studio into line . By making 
the place three times larger than last year which I guess 
was extensive enough, I ought to have a crop 
beyond my capacity to harvest if the season is half way 
favorable,, "If you want to make a small^ 

garden, take 40 acres, etc., etcsaid Francis Bacon and I seem 
to have taken him at his word in this year's gourd venture. And 
now, after this little rest, I must turn b a ck to my labors 
which I ust finish before dawning ...... 




Friday, arch 13th, 1959, 


Hemorandums 

For tonight, a letter from Lyme is tucked 
away in the armoir a w aiting secretarial assistance 
to morrow morning. 

Today was ^another beautifully clear one 
with spanking breezes Jrom the Gulf, bearing 
water particles, it is said, that will be 
converted into clouds within 24 hours which will 
sprinkle a dab of rain on us and nobody regrets 
that since, for once, both sides of the 
fence, —plantation and garden, —agree about the need 
for moisture, and that is indeed a rarety, 

f I discovered a couple of hold-overs that 
didn t get,included in yesterday's memo. They 
aren't of a ny interest although I was vaguely 
a mused that the Civil War Commission should be telling 
Cane A iver people about the making of the 
Horse Soldier, '^he other letter is fromDorothy Hilo, 
a friend o Mrs, Walker who passed this way a couple of 
weeks b a ck. She is Jewish but looks Italian and 
is possessed of a sparkle conversationally• 

The letter which James mentioned yesterday 
,q8 having been posted during the day, did not reach me, 
I suppose it will arrive, tomorrow and will cover 
the Jallon news related on 
the 'phone, 

I have had an other busy day out of doors with 
half a dozen field hands who were already 
feeling the approach of the week end and so weren't 
too ambitious, But I inspired them with my presence on 


9771 








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9772 


i 


several fronts and so quite a lot mas accomplished 
in spite of their tendency to dilly-dally, For one thing, 

I finished the framework for the gourd house in 

the Unicorn Garden so nothing more needs be done in that 

section except planting and for Nature to 

put on the roof and siding with greenery, 27je 

similar trellis at the end of this house isn t 

finished but will be, I feel nuite 

certain, by Monday about 10 o clock, "excusin a Monday 
morning shower % After that, I shall start in on the big 
gourd garden and that iqill probably drag along for some days,-- 
its present expanse is so seemingly limitless, 

Ihe artist came to see me, today, bearing a picture 
8he thought I might .invest in, I didn t care much 
for it and declined, $he came back leter, bearing 

the same picture plus one that I did like and she 
explained she fcad made a mistake before and had had both 
pic tures ii\ mind when quoting the price, We did a little 
business which I think may bq extended when I prob a bly 
shall palm off the one I don t care for on Martin or 
perhaps la Applegate, What interested me more than 
her paitings was the artist confidence that she is 
investing in a car which she claims she knows how to drive, 
sounding just as credible os might I, were I to 
state that I am adept at driving a jet, I 

predict she will never get banged up herself while motoring 
but I shudder for the fate of others who may have the ill 
luck to be in .the big road at the same time s/te is, 

What a sight that woman is. 

And now I must write to Del Chockl&y and knock 
off two or three prefunctory letters, after which 
I shall do a d a b of reading a nd then flatten 
out earlier than last night which was too late. 

Frankly, I am impatient for the xiorrow 
a nd the promise it holds for communion with 

Lyme,,,,,,,, 


9773 

IOT 


Sunday, March 15th, 1959, 


Memorandum : 

- Yesterday was such a pleasant day inside, what 
with Friday's letter from Lyme, followed by Saturday's 
. account of the first rumble for this year's Versaille 
B a ll, And how can I begin to thank you for all, 

I just loved your account of our little feathered 
friends a nd how many times since reading it have I h a d 
visions of the little one resting on the finger of i os mistress, 

I like the whole business and am so delighted you have such 
9ay playmates, ' 

» 

I smiled to myself a bout the portion of the page 
concerning Mr, Julies which you indicate was removed, I 
have no doubt we are much of the same point of view on that 
matter although the time element contributed he a vily to 
lights and shadows in the column which would not have been so 
pronounced, had the letter' or the column, I mean, been knocked 
°ff about the time the paper went to presss. It's remarkable how 
the difference of a few days makes such a difference in the way 
some topics would be handled. 

I'll try to find M a ude Eberhardt's original letter 
about Mi38 Nellie, She had apparently turned over in 
bend when already too close to its edge and had fallen, 
breaking the same leg broken once before, I shall prob a bly 
be receiving another letter from Maude soon re gar ding the funeral 
and shall of course pass it along promptly. 

It was so kind of y&u to send me so many interesting particulars 
both in clipping and recorded orrather written form, I am 
especially delighted to hear a bout the Ee3keath Pierson study 
of Boswell and Johnson, His work is usually so excellent, 

I hold • the thought thi3 - one may be especially soo 

• • J ^ ** - 

he mention of Mr, Cain a ud the book about the Red River 
campaign delighted me, too. It seems odd that so much 
time has elapsed since anyone did anything much a bout that 
fiasco, I'm inclined to agree with you that one should 
give thought about adding it to one's collection, 

B'm eorry= theAstor thing is going to be such a rough house 
as it is bound to be, what with the lawyers with their eyes on 67 
million dollars worth of scuffling, Apparantly John J a cob isn't much, 
What a pity such things h a ve to be. 





I 


From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #11-3889 In the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9774 


9775 


oaturdau' s post brought a couple of letters 
from, the Jfeurork office of United Artists, —a 
corporation that seems determined that "bogs will 
be girls", what with all correspondence with that 
organisation thus far has brought forth letters 
addressed to "Miss", But the letters touched on points 
of interest and contained transparencies in color, —scenes 
from the Horse Soldier which I have in mind using for 
at least one of the designs in the Plantation Mote Paper, 

I shall send these transparencies to Ola Mae in Monday's 
post, 

I must also write James about the name of 
a town in Arkansas — of all places, , 

He isn't going to believe me, 1 know, and I can t 
blame him, for, according to the radios, there ~ 
actually is a place in Pulton County calle'd Moko, 

£ think there is nbthing of especial interest in 
theenclosures but 1 send them along regardless I- 
was a little puzzled about the Murray-Johnson quotation in 
James' letter, wherein la Johnson seems to refer to 
the Jallon as James' and.'mine, I hope he is not 
including my name in the authorship for, as you 
know, 1 had nothing to do about the w riting of his book, 
h ving merely presented him with tlte historical fact 
on which to hang Itis poetic' rendition and it seems to me it would 
not be fair to include me as having had anything to do with 
the writing of the volume, 

4 The ladies a cross the fence 3eem to be feeling 
full of pep and'as proof thereof. Celeste took Madam Regard 
this fternoon for a spin around town to observe 
the flowering -red buds, iris and daffodill displays along 
the river bank and in town lots, fter which theywent on to 
thecountry club for tea, 

* ■ 4 x *■ ' * J ^ ■ 

Father Rondeau of u atchitoches, once of He Brevelle 
Church but lately of Rhode Island,' came for supper. It 
was quite a gay sitting and 1 was sorry J, H, was 
called away to see about an automobile wrech down 
by the spillway where a car struck' a horse and 
both were demolished. 

So the week closes and a i}ew week begins. From the radio 
I gather^ the Lymb weatlxer wasn t too bad, T hope 
there was a element of relaxatton, too,, .. 


Mon a y, March 16th, 1959, 

1 


Memorandum j t 

How nice to find an air mail of the 14th in 
today's post. 

All that you had to say about Mis3 ellie 
found a vibrant echo in my own heart and 1 wish I 
h a d done half as well in this coming Thursday's 
Memo % of the Cane River variety, 

I am sorry you failed to receive Maude's notification 
of i/iqs Hellie's fall from bed, I must still have 
the letter which may have got inserted with a stack 
of letters on the holding shelf which are being held 
aside for the further consultation on such grounds as 
addresses, points for quotation or some such. 

It goes without saying I am distress that the memo 
of March 5th failed to reach itse destination, I should 
suppose that if I inadvertently sent it in an 
envelope addressed to someone Jihe L, D, it would 
have etiehr come back or been reporteed within the 
intervening 11 days. Perhaps I hit the w rong nine 
or zero or eight as occured once before. For the life 
of me, 1 can't recall what might have beeji in the cards 
11 days b a ck and I can only hope therefore . that 
if the memo should fail to 'reach you, it contained 
nothing of interest, . 

• 

I h a ve been thinking so much about tjie impending 
added choreja in store for little Miss Lee in having 
to find someone to take Mildred's place, I 
suppose the job of getting a new aid in any line 
of work s'eems more difficult with each day's passing, 
g»d t/iis has always seemed doubly so in. matters such as 
the one confronting little Miss Lee, wherein, unlike 
replacing a personal assistant, responbile only to the 








9776 


March 17th, 19 59 


individual doing t.e training, the problem seems 

much more fr ought with demands when the work is something 

that, especially if anything goes Wrong, it 

will make such a racket in so many differing quarters, 

I sltall be holding the thought that the replacement 
may soon occupy as satisfying a place as the one 
being replaced, 

Today's weather was supposed to be sunny and so 
the sujI never came out and the ■'forth wind was cold 
keeping the thermometer dow in the 50 f s all day, I have 
been thinking about your five inches of slush 
and hopiilg that has long since been pushed ou of 
the way if it hasn't evaporated or melted away, 

For some reason, I alw a ys associate the Flower 
Show with March rains, and, of course, because I am 
so far behind times, I invariably h a ve a msjvt'al 
picture of Grand Central Palace and Lexington Avenue 


femorandum: 

Cool and clear all day and not precisely like 
the type of weather obtaining in the neighborhood of the St, 
Patrick's Day parade, I wassorry to hear, the report 
from that quarter, mentioning sleet in connection 
with the parade, 

* • ... , S-I . I • « 

The enclosures interested me because of the unhappy 
elements in each of them. From the telephone conversa¬ 
tion the other night, I got the impression James 
was feeling r ather optomistic about the marital thing. This 
letter doesn't sound■ that way, I was interested to learn 
of Patty's intention to dispose of her unter 
collection, I shall write her tonight, offering 
to buy it, explaining that although I shipped many of 
the items to them on behalf "of the artist, —I shall 
not refer to those * g a ve them, - I should like to 
purchase any she has for sale, asking her to let me know 
the number and the price. From two or three sources, I have 
been told Bob did a marvelous job in getting them 
framed to perfection and if I could obtain 
the collection framed, a show could quite easily 
be arranged that would attract Hunter enthusiasts and 
undoubtedly be a sell out, Patty, T believe, 

feels hesitant a bout selling them to me, in view of the origin 
of many of them, or more precisely, in view of th’e source 
whence several of them came to be incorporate 
in the Segeleau collection but since site hash t been 
ble to dispose of them until now, I suppose she could 
?;et as good a price from me as from anyone and at the same 
time experience the satisfaction of knowing they went where they 
would be handled with a degree of affection and surely I should 
w a nt to keep a-few of them. 


rather than the site of the presentlocation, 

* ‘ 

Tour feelings a bout the marriage status 
is a duplicate of mine • 4s I have never quite 
comprehended the altogether original handling 
of the bond by either contracting party makes it 
impossible far me to anticipate what the, outcome 
may be like • 4s for the gentleman, I think 
him daring,, unimaginative, idealistic a nd without guile 
while the lady, j under tremendous pressure from 
the family, is doubly uncertain as to just what 
it is in life 3he wants • On the 'phone the 
other night, T told the husband everything I 
had to say that I thought would penetrate, 

I am glad I 3jiall have opportunity to do 

something similar for the wife, come Friday 0 I 

think his disinterestedness entitles him to substantial 

considerationI doubt if she will ever find anyone 

from whopi she can, get so much consideration and I 

think she needs a lot pf that. How difficult 

it is to avoid playing another person's hand when it 

appears so obvious to the on-looker who 

one set of partners could win the whole game so 

easily and yet are so likely to lose it 

through thoughtlessness •••••••••• 









RS# 1tr \-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection 

r, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


From the rRAMCOlS HlbWOM rArbi 
University of North Carolina Library 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: 1 


Wednesday, March 18th, 1959 


The news from la ^pple gate about Hiss Myra 
is disturbing. It was even more dis- 
turbing tonight around 8;30 when Long distance 
called to say Ferriday was on the wire. The artist 
must h a ve been out for Dolores and a girl friend there with 
her and the two of them,—one having taken down the 
receiver when my call came through, —got to 
scuffling over the receiver and I could hear only 

very faint voice with a & cadence that sounded over- 
1 den with stimulant, but what was actually said, 

I could not make ou and so I hung up, naturally. I 
hope the reason for the call was Hunter^ piotures rather 
than news of Hiss Myra. 

I h a d a secretary dictate the sentence about the note 
p n per for the Pilgrimage Garden Club which I shall send 
(dong to Ola Mae whom I have been punching for some 
time to get out Matches note paper, one box bearing 
Pilgrimage houses, the other bearing GardenClub houses. 

I do think these would sell very well in The* Bluff city 
but haven't as yet been able to get any satisfactory working 
statment a bout the project. I believe Ola Mae is 

little better as a correspondent than her grilc, friend but 
it must be admitted, neither are famous in that field. 

1 his morning I discovered' that the- birds hpve taken 
to parking for the night on the3et of deer horns above the 
bench on the front gallery. Tonight 1 took appropriate 
measures, I hope, to discourage that practice. 1 he cook 
tells me that she recently discovered the black birds are 
now sharing the roost S with the chickens in her hen 
house. What in'the world with Senator Willie say if he 
learns the bl a ck birds are thus consorting with the white 
leghorns in such intimacy. Seemingly one problem is 
never settled before another gives way at the seams 

!ihe Walkers are going to Mew Orleans for the week end 
a nd asked if it would be convenient for me to put next 
week's column in tomorrow morning's post. It 
would not be. B ut before calling it a d a y, L 3hall 
knock one off regardless, assuming L can think of something 
to write about. The greater gourd garden 
progresses slowly but surely and I 11 be glad when it 
is finishedso I may not beso ' oko-ish 
at close of day when desk work is in order...i.• 


Memorandum : t t 

7/arm-ish, cloudy, and spring-like. 

At supper tonight, the clerk ,told me that Mrs. 
Applegate called the store this afternoon from Ferriday- 
Waterproof, saying she had been trying unsuccessfully 
to. get me and asking that he relay the news that Hiss 
Myra would love to hear from me by letter, addressed to 
the Matches Hospital. I shall, of course, write 
her tonight. 

I suppose * mentioned tltat last night I had 
a Long Distance call that go no where. Tonight 
I received a call from the operator, —I know 
not if it war, n atchitoches or Ferriday, and, to 
my mild surprise, I was asked if B could relate 
a bout how long I talked with F e rriday-Waterproof last 
night. I said I had done no talking Long . 

Distance last night • She asked me if I didn't 
remember having a call. I told her I did and 
asked her if she might be the same operator who had 
summoned me. , She said she was. Hiey L asked her if 
she didn’t recall that she had been unable to hear 
me and asked me to scream lopder and that J had^pointed 
out that someone on my party wire had the receiver down. 

'She said she did remember that distinctly. And so I 
had no difficulty in setting her straight that I had not 
indeed had an coversation with anyone., to which 
she countered that "but your wire was connected , 
a nd L told her that the party line may. have been connected, 
the one listening in but that I [iad hung up. 4»d 
thpn she somewhat surprisingly vplonteered the information 


Smile 





From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M“3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North CaTolina Libra'ry, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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9780 


that the party inFerriday -Hater >fvoof had failed 

to put down the receiver at that end and the Long distance 

connection had gone on for hours. Imagine tlte 

t a ngle the American .Tel and Tel is going to have 

with that fine piece of bookkeeping, 

And so I suppose my assumption of last night 
that the faint murmur to be that of a lady in 
her cups was correct and Madam Applegate must have 
p a ssed out or some such, but, in view of the 
call from her to me, via the store this afternoon, 
suggests she must ltave revived, I mus.t relate 
this telephone mix-up to James who certainly will 
relish the mix-up, t 

My day has been fairly busy, what with 
much out-of-door activities in keeping the pseudo¬ 
gardeners going in the right direction, not to 
mention se.veral interruptions, .including 
a vi3it from the artist who wanted a red bud sapling 
which I dug for her to let the other workers keep 
on their course, Then, at one point early 
this morning r the youth mowing the lawn 
of the white-garden came rushing in my direction 
to say 3pnehow somebody had passed out beyond the 
b a ck gate, It was perhaps the most. strapping 
youth on the place who, in spite of his physical 
strength, sometimes suffers from epilepsy and we 
carried him to the gallery and laid him out, so the dew 
and morning chill would not effect him in 
the damp grass, and there was a little period of 
helping him get back .to normalcy again, > Then 
another neighbor wanted some ribbon grass roots,8etc,, 
etc,, and thitafternoon, with a ssistance, I 
turned the house upside down for a thorough cleaning, 
only to have more interruptions from the artist id^o wanted 
me to see a new picture and such breaks in the day s 
sbhedule, ■ , 

i J, H, was provoked at supper when speaking of John .ienk s 
forgetfulness. When John left here on Sunday 
noon for, Shreveport, he did not turn o f the gass, 
turned on full tilt, in his room in the big house. 

The room remained closed until Monday morning when the 
clerk passed that way and found the place as hot 
a s an oven, A heap of wood tapping seems in order 
for all the near-misses at this bend of the river,,,,,. 


9781 


Ihursday, arch 19th, 2959. 


emorandumt 

A lovely, partly cloudy Spring day, 

J am writing a little later than usual because 
along-, bout first dark, Lionel Jeanrqard tapped 
on my window on the white garden side, and, being 
an ur^ban resident, sittings until 11 o'clock 
aren t unusual. 

After greetings were exchanged, he had to s tep back 
into the garden to observe the birds. He said he 
h a d read the Memo about them but hadn't the vaguest 
notion their numbers were so tremendous, Black treaks 
of birds by the dozen were tracing patterns against 
the gray of the late evening sky and he stood 
fascinated watching them as they weighed down bare pecane 
limbs before taking their final hop into the hedges and 
magnolias, To avoid startling him, J pointed 
out I was bout to clap my hands and for him to 
notice the hedges. He was astonished when, at the clap 
of my hands, vast clouds of birds arose from their 
sleeping quarters, circleed close above their .roosting 
places and then settled b^k, Lionel , was fascinated by the 
trick and i thought he pever would tire of trying 
the same trick and producing the same results every time. 

On turning to re-enter Yucca, we picked up a flock of packages 
Lionel had brought, —whiskey, ice, several kinds of cheese, 
crqckers, several kinds of cookies and the Lord f 

knows what all. As I had but recently had supper, * wasn t 
either hungry or thirsty but as the even wore along, J did what 
I could to nibble around the edges of both wet and dry groceries, 

-Neither of us had anything of particular interest to 
say but we had a very pleasant evening and Lionel, 
without knowing much of the details, admised me 






From che FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 in Che Souchern Hiscorical CollecCion, 
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9782 


9783 


against getting too entangled with Hodges projects, 
primarily t he said laughingly, because he likes to think 
of me here where he can drop in on occasion, 

He said he had driven to Lafayette in 
or rather had driven up from Lafayette to Alexandria 
in the fternoon, bringing his gardener with him to 
dig up bulbs in his father-in-law's g a rden on the 
morrow and after parking the gardener somewhere, he 
had thought he would take the opportunity to spend the 
evening with me. 

About 8 o'clock, Kay telephoned from the motel 
in town, ^he .said .she and her companions were tired after 
their trip up from Baton Rouge where they had passed 
the Socket somewhere along the road. They had not 
stopped to chat as the Rocket was supposed to be 
back up this way tomorrow, * wonder if *-ay 
invited the “ocket for 3upper tomorrow night, as she 
did me, 

• 

Kay said their stop over for the night in Baton Rouge 
with Hiss Mah had been wonderful, —a marvelous 
3upper and lots of the Uahier3 in for the evening, She 
sayeth further that Hiss Hah 3ays K a y, James and I simply 


Friday, Harch 80th, 1959, 


'ones and 


h a ve to be with her fpr Christmas and Kay asked me if I would 
consider such a thing, L said I would consider spending 
a few days before Christmas with her aitd James in Hew 
Orleans, ; fter which we all could consider going up to 
Hiss Mali's, Consider is the important jfforH in the 
fore-going sentence, of course, What strikes me 
as being the most important thing, however, is that as of 
tjie moment, at least, Kay apparently is thinking of being 
with ames next Christmas, 

I got a chance, jn spite of a- busy day, to run through 
this week's column about "Sweet Girl Craudate", . 
being cpriou3 to learn how it turned out since I had 
knocked the thing off a nd slapped it into an evenlope aid posted 
it without ever getting an opportunity to see 
if the thing had been fairly well balanced or not, I felt 
Madam Marco would have liked to have her grandfather's 
name and her own linked together in seme fashion, even if 
no more than the mention of her and him by name 
in the same piece,, telephone interruption at this strange 
hour of the night, —the artist to tell me about 
a new picture she has been "marking" .. 


Memorandum j . • 

• ^ 

A lovely day until 7 when a terrific storm swept 
the area, dropping a little over half an inch of water, but 
by 10 o 'click tonight, the sky was cloudless again and 
the gardens lovely and new-washed in the moonlight, I guess 
I should add that Saturday rather than Friday would be 
the more precise date line of this memo, 

I went io tow t»i with the clerk a6 6j30 and chatted 
for half an hour with the ladies at the motel before 
we headed out for the Town House and supper in a driving 
rain, 'Piey had spent the day at Brairwocd, or at least 
the afternoon, 

I found Aunt Willie much older physipially than 
when I saw her last in October, Her mind, however, remains 
in all its $ vigor, Mrs, Crabtree, a trained nurse, is 
slight of figure, sort of 50 -ish, is excellent for her job and 
has only one d"awba'ck, —talking too much but withal 
pleasantly, t 

" r , . , , • • "V , • > S m '•>. • A. » 

1 B a ck to the motel in the rain, we parked the ladies, and 
after a little ,chat, Kay and I in the rain came down to 
Yucca We talked about everything and she gave me some 
interesting particulars about the SegeleaU rupture 
which, it appears was engineered by the husband .8 father. 

We spoke at length of the elder dragon, -Pie younger one 
has nothing left in her heart for the elder save a s ense of responsi• 
^ tiility for tier comfort and welfare and. pity, Lov a. has 
gone out forever, which is another way of saying that there appears 
not the slightest chance tha,t there will be any rupture at all 
in the younger one 's marriage and she plans to take up housekeeping 
seriously, purchase of p home, etc,, immediately after her 
return to the lower Mississippi , ,t' 


the moon was so lovely when Kay left here somewhat after mid¬ 
night, The ladies will profwJUjj. g.o to Hodges Gardens on 
the morrow, will cancel a Briarwood invitation to Sunday dinner 
a nd prob 2 bly come here instead. 







From the Francois RiGNON Papers, #H-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9784 


9785 


Sunday, March 22nd, 1959, 


. n my returns from the front gate, 

I esponded to my telephone, x he *ocket had just blown 

in to the motel, having gone to the Crescent City on Thursday 

afternoon and headed up this way a gain on Friday , , 

stopping at Baton Rouge for a confirmation of 

a job t q do a film for the State library and that 

film has been given to the Rocket to execute as soon 

as the Hodges thing is completed, She takes 

off from Shreveport in the morning at dawning, says 

tonight's tronado passed over the Old Bonita area and she 

had better check on that. She wants to work her 

on Sunday but the prsence of the other ladies preludes 

that, A regional meeting at Hodges onTuesday, camera > 

men up from Hew Orleans on Wednesday when shooting will 

begin there again on the s ame day, carrying through 

Tltursday, Friday, Saturday and the Sunrise services on 

Easter morning. She takes a plane for Hew ork on 

Monday[ to attend a film convention at the Statler, returning 

by plane to Baton Rou„e t\e following Monday for a library 

film conference. She said she w as- calling her 26 year 

old nephew in Houston tonight, inviting him to make the 

Hew York trip, I stepped in there and said "Ho nephmo" , 

that hi's presence, requiring her responbility, would 

hamper her convention activities, She agreed, °he knew not where 

site would be stopping. It w 11 be interesting if to see 

if she does anything a bout taking the rubber out of checks, She 

reports MrHodges is manifesting greatest concern about Lestan 

ideas and she believes the Macdowell thing is 

almost in the c,ards and suggests I accept any gesture from 

that direction for a Cardens conference which will probably, 

I assume, come ,right after the Easter sunrise hurly-burly, 

Ti t e Chinese magnolia shots turned out wonderfully and 
Emmet and Erwin are photoggnio • 

onight or rather tjkis mojning, 1 shall writ*, the 
Pontalba, suggesting thatme.ray for the vanquished becomes 
the victor and much happiness could be afforded the spouse 
if he journeyed to the East coast to pick her up when 
things are settled there ,,•••••• 


Memorandum j <. 

• *' 

Clear and cool, not unlike mid May in Massachusetts, 

Last night I had long telephone talks 
with - l unt Willie; calling from her room in the 
motel and then later from x o y, calling from her 
room in the motel, 'they had spent the day at 
Hodges Gardens and la Storm w a s most thrilled by 
the blue pansies, the like of which she had not seen, 
and the extent of the black top road through the 
gardens, the roads reminding her of similar arrangments 
in some f amous tea garden she had visited a couple of 
years ago on some little island in the Indian Ocean, 

They decided to take off early this morning on g leisurely 
coursef giving up the notion of passing thisway to see 
the Henrys but rather heading in the general 
direction of Briarwood where they planned to picnic 
with Carrie and then move on across the Mississippi 
in the direction of the East Coast, 

• ' 1 » «.’* *’ i tt r 

I was impressed by the firmer tone Hay manifested when 
speaking of her auntie, just as I had 
been impressed at the Town House the other night when 
Aunt illie began fussing a bout some nise from a 
private dining room when Hay, as though to nip 
in the bud a sign that the old lady might put on an 
act, the younger kept the older hard on the beam 
. of Social grace. 

La Storm mentioned J awes by name but twice, 
once saying that he had made a wonderful time table for their 
use while traveling that would get them home 
by Easter, and secondly that she felt that James, 
with the prospect of his Jallon book opening up, was 
on the threshold of smooth literary sailing just as it was 
obvious that Carolyn, after watting a couple of years, was 









From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS, #M ~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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<58 VO 


9787 


9786 


... on *M ^ >/ « '"1 — MrCer ’ ( . re3t . 

Satu rody's post 

One ms' from the ■U'loYorh ff ^ it$ avemi9 . As 

they had no . ove r and over again last *° v ° mber > 

I had seen this shott< u muat have already used it up 
it appears that United . r sure iy, with so 

in their publicity pr«p ■ *J°’ t { t is bound to be in 

• a *. l. 

*«» *«»« 

VSsiSStt “5. - ■ 

„ letter from Montgomery, across the 

riierB«Z *» W last 

/K ?£ ri&^rV’ 

020.Sod 6 assd ,„t by little J *33 III. 

"politics and c-otton , ® +, „+** will be 

turned ou to be so lo ^3 Uat o/ wh ioh will appear 

tu £%**??, %e tS o'th°er p ? art the following wee*. 

I 9 ot a /ew ^ l8 Pj 0 Jf ® a ^J a 0 JaiIt« J 6u? l who°Itfc«d V 
/rom people who did not tf Enterprise to send 

"Sweet tArl Graduate . I a*Keo tfrs. ^ oore a „ d 

a copy 0/ tbe papor °.fc. iptZZ /in* , 

dropped her a br ) e 't 0 f pilgrimage too wrapped 

5T.rA5Sl °/ V 

x c.«^ — b ; a s fc s.S-K**^5 ono 

ost 

all people, jioXlnier to,nisM <" a no-broadoast. 

I'lll catch up with -r, V preive Quests who may be 

H gives me acan h b f t 1 % aa Yetect cobwebs on the ceiling, etc, e c., 
busy glancing about to muc/i impe rfection, 

and while in a Ju do better to -be 

<n " ,e 

enviros of Lyme . 


Monday, March SZrd, 1959, 


1/e wo randum j 

ifow nice to /ind a Fri'ay air mail f rom Lyme in 
today's post and how nice to find a nice fat package 
in the same poast, 

I dived into the latter before exploring the 
contents of the first and I find that every ahticle can be used 
to the reatest advantage • I wust confesi I have 
often wondered how one can prepare such wonderful packages 
when hedged about, uptown and down , with so many sets 
o/ circumstances, no helpful in executing suc/t matters . 

Because of this, * was do bly interested in the phrase a bout 
other similar shipments that called for attention at the same 
time and while I know I am not the cause of anyone being 
cheated, I am delighted to be part of the whole enterprise • How 
■many times in the days ahead will my thoughts return to today's 
P-ic aG e an d broadcasts of gratitude be directed in the 
direction of Lyme, 

The Friday message makes me so happy to have such 
a picture of local doings and it goes without saying 
I am grateful for the news that the missing 
memo finally turned up, I am curious to know if its 
delay was due to a faulty address, I must be more , 
careful about that point in the future • 

it was as though little Miss Lee had been taking a page 
from a self-description of Lestan in the matter of avoir-du-pois , 
Christmas just about wrecked Lestan '3 figure but he dqesn't 
mind and say to tell little Mi 33 Lee that she shouldn t 
mind that problem either fo-r it will correct itself eventually 
a nd in the mean time, it's always nice to have a little 
extri when, indisposition ctends to di-scourafe the cpetite , 

My inv a lu a ble secretariat is forever furnishing 



From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 



9788 


oe;e 


9789 




Tuesday, March 84th, 19 59. 


surprises that doubly del ight me because words develops 
m their renditions that J could never think up on mu 
own hook, I don t recall the precise wording 
in today's message but the way it was read 


way 

"an ambulance 


"ode it run something like 

of aj feet ton , —a combination of word3 I had never 
thought of before, 

Hie enclosure from James about l a Applegate's 
family is interesting, )7ith this information to hand. 

, no l worrying whether she has to pay the 13 hour 
phone biH or not because with such wealth, such a dent 
wouldn t make much difference, I reckon. It is 
interesting that when la Applegate telephoned the store on the 
/cilowi?io day a ;ji the person, luguene whom she thought was J, H,. 
til Ji e L\ ha , men . Ucned having failed t 0 get a connection 

r*lnrl 9 i+ be S° r f * n l Ue c - 21 f rom *aterpropf, she hastened to 
remark it must have been someone else in aterproof-Ferridau 
calling, as she had not used the 'phone the night before, 

.low, you know and 1 know that nobody else in that 
a^ea would be calling me and you know and know that if 
ste is a slave of the bottle, she probably didn t even 
know she had put through the 13 hour call in the first 
placet * 

Perhaps I mentioned the other day that I had heard 
in a newsbroa ’cast out of little «ock last week-the name 
of rone bo ay in an accident, a resident of Hoko, I couldn't 

y ea Jl bv * oonaulUd. the Postal Guide and found there 
is indeed a Joko m Fulton County, Arkansas, and so 
. 8ent a couple of envelopes there for cancellation 
to surprise ames, which, obviously, was effective. 

In the same mail with this memo a small package 

t° ^ 7le * /J elieve the box bear3 t-estan's name 
a .i'j wo might be discarded on receipt in the Post u price trah 
or where ever 


Memorandum j 

A beautiful day, 3unny and warm and busy, 

-i . n * 

first off, nay 1 take up the misere" department, 

T he enclosure speaks for itself, I feel like a 
heel even mentioning the matter, T hav ■ been ,, 

pondering the matter, trying to think up 3ome simplification 
of the imposition and I'm wondering if you could snip off 
the first and last sentences, attach the section covering 
the business to hand, posting same to the Hew York Public 
w-ith a covering note, asking if the picture in question is 
in existence and, if so, if the photostating or photographing 
could be done and mailed direct, C, 0, D,, to 

Hr. James Register, ' , 

Customs House Station, Pox 8383, 

Hew Orleans, L uisiana, 

0 

As it perfectly obvious, there can't be any 
great rush about this, since the need for the picture 
will depend solely on whether a publisher gives the text 
serious consideration and tag ends, such as an illustration, 
can be wrapped up later for there certainly wont be any presses 
poised for the job within months if at all • Treat 
the matter as circumstances justify and if pressure on you is 
too great at the moment, I think you should let me know 
and I shall suggest that James write directly to K the Hew K - 
York Public which, although I'm not acquainted with such 4 

details, probably has a service for such requests by mail from 
research workers who chance to be living in any. old part of the 
country • 

I found Celeste in a great ti 2 zy at coffee this morning. l)ie 
Chamber of Commerce had just called J. H, to ask if 50 
northern magazine and newspaper people could come this way 
on Sunday afternoon and he had said they could, I did what I 
could to quiet her down, . As, I recall, it was just 10 years 
ago we had a similar group but that was to spend half a day. 




Francois Mi6non Papers, #M-5889 


9790 


Wednesday t Waroh 85th, 1959 


Memorandum >' e»Lcy*x>e 

\tcr; vic\£ cc ni i;c<iTco v o3 tsdnstfisT o* utfr iifc*\a 

Thanks „ exclusively, to little Mice Lorn, the' 'v: 
memo is more readable from the ribbon point of view, 

*1 OQS'I 'tuAft'O&O! O J&V Oo .S»-V Tfto./ 

Another nice warm Spring day with a erptnkle a oi ! 
tonight whiph fo feat will not develops nearly an 
nuoh, moisture me I should like*. fta,• 

rtoiiio o au? © irAQuoTd \j*A 

Uy day has behn fairly busy* what with slave abtut 
to bind a hang in planting.preparations and ether slaves 
to do a d a b of cleaning in preparation for. Sunday r s 
vistation, aireieni yaiU. .edible si\i \o »uct 

sw onitd boeiico't^ be/ ua/ j - .nous i bit© bafrei&vt 

The olerk was later than venal coming for -in *o--' 
a snort on oar way to the big house /Brno op tsiov. \j®*v- 
dinner this neon, I took the segment of -sb /•• •> - ov> 

tt*« thus afforded to knock off a sale: e letter to A'J-J, 

Hodges, iltregret I forgot to make a carbon : ce 

on tk«**oond pag« whioh. is merely an extension .iJ-tuor 
o/ tb* <d«o probably pretty well outlined on tfc* 

/<r#t pays »fr*ofcL*s;atiaob b*r«»**k /#r B#«r information, 
id«a seems plausible enough and one that would be 
rather potent in getting greater numbers of people o 
heading toward the gardens*. I have dated it ei ji-L -sb 
Friday with a view,to posting it: on Saturday so it will 
arrive after the Easter sunrise servioes and prior to 
his invitation^ to' he K to spend the day with him* Of 
oourse this idea is picayune.in contrast to the larger 
Uaodowell preposition but itshtrikes ms thi notion '-II 
if a Hodges Gardens, sor a pbeok might appeal to him and 
perhaps he will like the general tenor of the U<4m*v>’c 
sample ooluans I shall append to uy letter although* • 
they may be a little ^beyond him from a aultural^potnf of view, 
Uy thought..ts to keep the Gardens in the publib*n$nd and 
not tO'Spend.tse nuch\botanical verbiage-in the eoluhns 
themselves,^ Well, I next x nusti.kneok. Off sene qi-j'. s 


all aren't dead long before sundown., 
inde struct able •• 


Blythe and Joan * rants came th 
no news of interest, Blythe liked 
she likes that sort of thing anyway 

this year are \ . 

dreamed up, i _ ’ _ 

r * • * 

As they left, around 4, Dr, Talley 
doctor appeared. She is the only person 
who feels as I do a^ 
ness of the results thus far realised, 
at the artist's house b* '' nminn kp 

showed me < 

was fascinated for five or six were a 
I had ever seen and the one good one 

pressed l borad which a couple of days _ ... T + 

artist to have her paint a special composition on it for me, l 
will be interesting to hear what she has to say by way of^explantion 
when I go to pick up the picture, especially as she do eon t know 
that she has already disposed of my board tp another, Miss Hunter, 
in short, is a bag, and at the moment more baggish than 


• rather more extensive than anything she had ever 
she seemed to get quite a thrill out of them, 

, the ew Orleans lady 
s 1 have ever met 

boutthe vast expenditures pt Bodges and the meagem 

She. said she hpd stopped 
; before coming here and on her way out, site 
6 or 8 pictures she had purchased, I 

bout the K worst 

was painted on a special gum 
zgo I had taken to the 









From the FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers, #11-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 

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9793 


9792 




. .1 t 


Thursday, March 86th, 1959, 


.W5iV! 


samples and, if I do so tonight before folding up, 

I shall try to remember to put a oarbon in so you may 
h a ve some potion as to what I pave in mind « 

t ■ ■ 

Right after dinner, I tried to get a weather report but 
had no*, Inch: for I heard someone call me from the 
b a ck gallery, It was Lionel wit Mr • Logan, a 
Lafayette friend who has. keen here before with him, 

Lhey brought a bottle, suggested we have a quioh 
drink a nd then go on tp town to sample the 
- fried schrimp,. I demurred on two grounds,-* 

I had 1 already eaten and secondly, I had to get some 
work out of the slaves, lhey insisted and I • 
resisted a nd I won, lhey had promised to bring me 
b a ok within the hour if I felt I must but after that, 
they would go on to Hodges Gardens, 1 g a ve Lionel some 
gourds whioh delighted him. He said Carely had 
, telephoned him in?Lafayette from Shreveport on Mondy, 
asking him to cheok on the status^of the' axellias in the 
courtyard of one* of the big oil' companies in 
Lafayette to see if she^Wonld find them ready to be 
.photographed sif she came down onWednesday, He said 
he would have the information by Tuesday morning and she said she 
would call, He added that everybody knows how 4 "> 

Carolyn is and although he got the information, 
hi. never did hear again from Carolyn, » 

oi Toitc bHL OS*' ''1 ft Ui ■■■At 

Reverting, to the sales letter, if Mr* Hodges 
should like the suggestion, Ola Mae andCharlie 
Phillips,,will reoeive quite a Jolt if it is^put 
through±,1 suppose, for I believe they have handled hit 
advertising and, . publicity. The trouble with 
A, J, is that he dwaddles too long between the time he is 
\prosonted an idea and the he gets around to 

; a ot on it,t If he makes a gesture about the oblunn at 
all, it probably will not be before autumn. Like the elephant 
spending ?*,years: in pregnenoy, I would'forget I was *>- 
goint to have one if it took me that long but both 
the elephant and A, J, seem to have excellent 
memories and no end of time,,,,,,,,,. 


. aoc\ Hosta '$■ , » o btysoiitfV 

. . .. , . V. i‘i _ oouoloar. .»i -no bsi: i noc> ; * *'• ' ■ 

Memorandurn } j ;; sr ?, o •: .v. ~ s ■ 

*to\ AcSixu Asi-soi o btttsakttoo frl • «<air 4 

, A beautiful day and a busy one *.> ;s,;s.*qo ioJ 
a«o llam b«« iam sdtoI wt* kotit ®oUev«eir«i 44 b«».o\ 

But the mail was the important thing of the busy 
day and the volume-from Lyme, containing the marvelous 
illustrations, the note from little Miss Loo and 
the crisp portrait of A, Hamilton brought a^sunburst of 
delight that hasbeen With me from the moment I opened 
the mail this morning until now and will oontinue into ^ 
my dreams, I was tired at news time tonight ahd so 1 
splashed through a quick bath and jumped interbed, thinking 
to rolax by stretching out while listening to the news, but 
I had fortified myself with the gift and was again so 
entranced with all,I had to see that, for tk* life of me, 

I gouldn t say what the nows bad to report, I was so busy'-'' ' 
turning frgm page to^page and concentrating with especial* 
concentration sen the places so thoughtfully marked with bits of 
paper. The .mestage is Iso heart warming, the Hamilton yesture 
so delightful, the illustrations ouch an endless 
source of please and so redolent with ideas that I shall 
h a ve an Easter week end that wtll oontinue on ad infinitum, 

: - t ' •: .} .• i-**»-c Lvw i \i 

. .v There was other mail which r shall enoftse, Tou will 
be especially interested tn Maude-Elf erhardt s letter ; giving 
details regarding Miss ffellie, Isn t it wonderful ' 
her departure was apparently se gentle and so unknown to her, I 
fcqd suggesteded to Maude that she t send me the letters I had 
written Miss ffellie so that they might be gathered together 
to go with a oollestion for the Historical Society but as 
these were burned, we oan dismiss \that project* o 83^ 4 
v .3 us® 1 • ml 1 a»\j »'■■■ no iitai.'i'Wioc: , 

The letter from Sister appears to characteristic •' 

I should explaiM-thcft last Saturday a letter from the v- 
Americafoundation for i the Bltnd, addressed to Mrs, E, L, Monk, 
in oars, of me, was forwarded to Shreveport promptly, and,; it- 
of course, unopened, Im Monday e post came a letter from ■. 
little Miss Lee, suctioning that a large package toai being W 
vjo b i L 1 h >b«o ftoaibttoqebTtoo «o vioai 
o* boo ysn no baJTbi-* ok Aoo<S ** 


I 











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, MB* 


5 .* it 4y<J iM’Vi'caasi i alt : a r. o --A 

a- ®>oei ■/, o *u*/. iatt _ h'Ail 

naira. ;si'j isai\<v. ynos 4o". 8{j»l *u C 1 ' 1r 

.0 : i. V Gooed Friday, M aroh 87th, 1959 , 

ai fro era ?.■-?>*'* ula^.^VnoX *tid feno ' <?»'•• •* 'A*'" 

i! 900 , V naioloo \tn \o site uoioi^'rvs)! <:i 

«i A01.8 *ta0 4 J.& SfcJO'Ul a • • V v * : 0: ' 

„mct- .iea*t\ boKi^ttoo ■ . no\ »*o ■ y • 

ifiiu.i r-oi A iw ..c lie ■ • : 

Memorandum * c ., e, o 

X dasxlingly blue, and g,old day but ohilly. 

. - 

,, I was at onoe surprised and delighted *to receive 
suoh a delightful surprise air mail greeting from Lyme in 
today’s I had not thought much about in- 

coming mail and was surprised there was any in a way and 
doubly delighted with the message from Lyme, 
i\ -ci or o; or butts b(tu a«oeoaiq baiUo*»i vaAAoaw 
I am so happy+ too, that Sweet Girl Graduate 
met the approval of little,Miss Lee, I thought the 
way she expressed her sentiments as to Madam ^arse's 
present whereabouts so perfect I,oould enly wish I had employed 
phrases half as penetrating in the column, 

•V C' „ : ■' L ' 10 i - i ■■ ■ r; \ ' 

?.L'. ) A I iM u 9t. tell you frqnkly, I was exhausted as I penned 
the date line of this memo. At noon, while ' 
waiting for the clerk to paooi thisway for dinner 


sent, followed by a smaller one, By ohanoe, when the post 
arrived, it contained one large paokage from little Miss Lee 
and one small package from the same city but from the Amerioan 
Foundation, It contained a wrist watch for the blind, 
the orystal opening up so the time may be told by touch, I 
found it interesting that the large package and the small one 
arrived in\tko same post although obviouslyf rom two 
different points of origin and the small paokage referred to 
in little Miss Bee s letter, arrived today. John Wenk who 
seems to be quite a# admirerySf.Lestan had had his mama 
order the blind watch for me which I thought very sweet, I 
gather,; both from,such mainfes tat tons and from other 
evidences that money is not one thing troubling 

bnqrist bit o' *o*Uo o .‘erAcy 

ins: ail atUa $ao $«Ubir8*»e .vvt ai 


the Wenkjnfnage 

l 2*o letter^from Dai soy in^the Bell suggests she 
may.h a ve forgotten ■* if,she received them, that I have ' 1 
written ksr a couple of times sinoe last I heard from her, 

I believe I shall be able to help her considerably with her artiole on 
the Little Kna business and shall drop hor a line-to that 
\effsot this week end, when notwntangled with the >• 

Northern Editors, . ik.uc cm i 'Ac a.A.V •••- ou 

UoAe v ir> ‘V a-.obi rt*5u *«oIobrt oc b»:o a8'.-ai<> \o »onuoo 
. Lester Hughes oaL led no a niykt or two ago, asking me 
if I would reoeive his daughter and friends from California 
thtsaftemoou,;.<I would, 2t30.*M the~magioalzhouP ’agreed on. At 
lo90 the four people arrfiio d, the Californtane especially - 
delightful, I helped them with cm architectural paper and we 
.dfoouoood California, eto^ until a slave arrived to 
say there were people here, although I had no oppointwunts, 
and the California contingent had arrived an hour ahead of time. 

On responding to the-new eall^X discovered that s 1 
the Hughes contingent had been m hour late for • ; 

their appointment and that the people I had been entertain - 
inp had been\<&other L*S,U^California group who- 
had made an appotntmment through Celeste, —kin of 

\rthjor Watson, and soJudid my act all over agin 
and 4* was afters j be fore I oould get after the slaves a gatn 
qnd the nee to supper and therice to my downy couch and 


I knocked off a ooule of paragraphs to James whiok 
I returned to just after tonight's news and dis¬ 
covered, ju^t on reaching the final paragraph, that the 
ribbon hadn t been tracking, sit was too muoh.to write 
that {letter over again and so I got the thing working again 
qnd ended up by remarking that what was written ^ 
in. shadow form above didn't amount to anything 
worth while anyway, and so made out an-envslope and 
set it aside,J%r the morrow s mialing, 

: bpjX’.O- " . ei: 1 6' • tCH 10 0 '■ J I'i-- 0'-\U 'b 

My afternoon was too busy addl was not to § entranced 
with the visitations I had from the white folks, Mrs, Walker 
and.per mother dame down, bringing me a fine bottle of wine 
and a handsome slab of angel food oake, a x he mother 
was beautifully gowned and was wearing a most attractive ohapeau 
and a splendid looking stole of mink or some suoh, I had talked 
with the lady on the 'phone the other day and • a*' 

found'her telephone personality delightful even as her 
ciiVfr lio ul9i; b . bait i .rat \o e» it or. mb \it«o bito 
o* ynitii* Iia\ tbuai. ILaiis I tad asaitU.; ' VS-'-' \* 8ivo« 
o baait AuiA* 1 «54\d nVtbiiAo \iw o4 biteA o 






From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9796 


9797 


daughter s telephone personality iszestful but like 
mother, like daughter, neither one has a face to face personality 
that is inspiring and Ims not sorry when they departed but 
as they left the side gate. Carmen, her sister and Edith Porter 
. earns in the front. *hey brought a half gallon of ioe oream and 
they staid toe long but fortunately there was at least one 
interruption when one of my oolored friends tapped on my 
door Just to hand be me a brown paper saok in the nature 
of a» Easter basket, for it contained 2 5 fresh eggs whioh 
I shall boil and put in the toe box against 
nibbling over the week end and the ensuing week. 

, At supper tonight, J. H. opined that he thought 
everybody ought to see at least one Easter sunrise 
aerviee. e assumed I had attended at least one in 
my life. I confessed I had not. He said he hadn't either 
but thought he ought to —o/ all place*—at 
Hodges Gardens on Sunday • He said he and Celeste 
and Pat % and Juanita thought they might go if the 
weather remained pleasant and he asked me to go with them. 

I demurred but noi too adamantly * I had already 
heard the weather report, guessing at scattered showers 
onEaster, 1 hope. I can imagine few things meriting 
less Justification, so far as I am concerned, than 
getting up at 3 o'e look on Easter morn to travel 50 
miles or more, taking along blankets for 
protection against the K cold, to go and sit on a hillside 
to observe the dawning o. a new day • e sight of dawn 

if^not particularly novel to me and I prefer the 
oomfort of Yuooa for witnessing the spectacle. 

• '■ 

In yesterday s enclosures was a card from A unt Willie 
which l intended remarking upon for its seeming gtiety. In 
today's post came a card from Kay whioh I shall 
try to find to enhlose plus a note from J amee. 

I wrote one letter to him'on the store typewriter, 
ip the Betty-Bob fashion and I'm .not quite sure 
if he realise* my intention to put it o# 

Mother typewriter or not. Perhaps his acknowledgement 
is a tacit way of expressing disapproval ef my 
, , reoopmendatton that Betty's husband, h a ving won, could 
afford magninimity and naket Betty happy by running up to 
the East coast and pick ng her up when she gets ready to 
„ return, I pointed out that not only '4* ;' 
did, usch a gesture promise muoh happiness for Betty 
right now but would be a healing balm 
is in ti*es ahead when her auntie had finally withdrawn 
and only memories of her remained. Surely all this is 
none of my business but I shall never fail trying to 
give a hand to my children when I think they need a 
little guida __—~ -_... 


Good Friday, much later, 
Haroh 27th, 1959. 


Memorandum• 

After folding up my beard tonight, I did a little 
thinking and so I am up again and jotting down this note. 

I don't know if there is in circulation a pioture post card 
of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Riverside Drive along 
about 79th or 81st Street, —that tall, white, Greeoian 
looking monument. If you shoul run aoross one in 
your travels, 1 should be so glad if you would keep me 
in mind and purchase a card of its likeness in my behalf. 

One day I shall propose this type of monument 
for the Cardens and probably suggest that a beacon be inserted 
in the top of the thing to sweep the skies nightly for 
the edifioation of air travelers and for the 
extension of Hodges Gardens consciousness. I envision 
a monument along the lines of the Riverside thing but 
its columns of Corinthian columns, —13 in 
number to represent the 13 original States and the circular 
walls of class so the thing might serfte for the skies 
what the "lanterns" on the great houses like Windsor 
near iort Gibson served for steamboat pilots. 

As for the scrapbook idea, I think, after the notion 
h a * sunk in, I shall suggest the Federated Garden Clubs and 
the Junior Garden Clubs of Louisiana be offered a fine 
prise for the most interesting scrapbook, oompiled 
o Bodges Garden Sorapboek columns, the design 
of the individual scr a pbooks compiled by the 
individual Gardenclub members to suit their own taste and 
su mitted at the end of the year to the national 
Federated Garden Club Borad for the awards, —with no end 
of publicity attending same, but I am wttttng none 
of this to A. J. at the moment...... 


\ 


9 









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eevtt 


9798 


Easter, March 89th t 2959* 




Memorandum 

I haven t heard much news today and 1 shell probably 
not hear much tonight but from one little steeh from 
a car radio, * gathered the weather in Lyme for this very 
special &abbath before the equally very special day following 
hasn't bee n conducive to out of door pleasures and I •* sorry 
if an Easter parade or more extended jaunt was planned. 

. . 

Locally* as the feather Brueau predicted, it 
rained sh Saturday but not much and it was supposed to 
rain Saturday night but didn *.v 

5*0 i :.T ■ c ' " '■"» ' ' 

Tbs oook wa8 planning to take off Saturday in mid 
morning to, attend in town the funeral of her favorite 
preapher t the Reverend Brown, but those plans were 
knocked in the head when a telephone call from Shreveport 
about 8 a.m. announced that Sister and the balance of 
her childreu would be down for dinner and supper. 

They came ai\d, let me pause to knook wood. Sister seemed 
more sane than I ever remember seeing her before • She 
probably will be more insane on her next go round than 1 
can recall, toe t t( ' • 

sWiw bayi^to na«to. *£'•• /. noW Go: a. .uc in at’iv, \p»y 

_ _ si ****** •*« 

1 . I seemed to have mush fiddling a J>out to do onSaturday 
night and so observed the Heavens occasionally and 
noted the sky cleaning. J. H. called me at 8 
o'clock but. r>, had already been up for an hour so was quite 
ready to join him and fieleste in heading toward town. We 
had breakfast with Pat and Juanita before three and then 
under a full moon, headed toward Hodges. 

Loirn; " • - sV- iti ■ ii “ 

Ve sat on the-steps of the. rose garden, our baoks to 
the East and observed the floats on which the pipe organ and 
choir gave an hour sl service, the full moon hanging *■> 
high in the West we were facing so that the-sun was up 
or at least full damn was: upon us before I realise 
.thfi.fiouree of Ugh was not i from the moon. - . * a 


9 








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wrve 


9799 


9800 


. . 1 t .\, => . y'.. : 


i.iv 


uMt.dru, 1 UAo * i.*u> o ; ac'5»i. 1 oi5f.. vU'.ui t • -A 1 

It 100 a wary chilly and, the cement steps on which we sat 

were like ice cakes but Z^had warm clothing aid so didn't 

•< mindi John Eyser and telephoned me on Saturday to 
as\ if I would like to accompany him and Thelma to *'• 
the services and I# 5. *illard did the same thing* I suppose 
there may have been lots of familiar p faces present but 
we saw nobody we knew and none of us saw any camera 
men or lady directors although they may have been oonoeal about 
somewhere •• I am glad 1 attened the service 
and don t need to attend another unlens I should ohanoe to 
be living on the vast estate whi oh seemed rather larger to me 
than the last time 1 was-the ns two or three yearn ago* 1 
ttor.wvtAo mot\ tt o sModqaiat ' «»Aw b>■■&.. »i bartooiv* 

Ve dwa ddled on our way b a ok home, drtving •around 
Natchitoches to observe recent real estate developements , the 
extent of which K surprised me* B a ok home by 9, I 3 
made a co,uple of gourd arrangments for the big house and Tucoa 
and put same fresh bouquets around and knooked off some ‘ 
mail • Juanita and Pat came down for dinner which was 
very pleasant and at It 30 Norman Fletcher arrived with 
the visiting newspapers from the North, —Herald Tribune, 

SyraouMM'fi Sioux City, Detroit, indinanapolis and ,so on* 

They were all pleasant enough but somehow I wasn 
greatly impressed by any of. them and was glad when , 

it was four o'clock and they would get. on their 
way ajid Z could get on -with, my mail* mid nio\. ' 
h ,m\. ; ,ad otiuou v i »U i<u *' 

The plantation seemed to need lots pfassistance before supper 
time and supper was a little later than usual 
so that Z am gjad to say that the post supper hitting 
, was shorter than usual and:, that I shall: thus be able 
to fold up a little earlier^ than usual-for I am a 
already sleepy • 1 hold the thoughts v atu as. s.u iu 
there may have been some restful moments tit Lyme and 
that tomorrow may be a day of inmeaeure a ble happiness ****** 


• *J 

h'tiiUa'oAo \jisom ui fradooS ;ssa oo»> 

• tfnarfflii. ItMk ’KCi+.h 7OEQ 


■\ 'OBTB-JiSM 0 0**9 
,03 SO' S' 

. 


/ . i Monday, March 30th, 1959* 

■ . b;\ aTSiSm a*' \,o 

. y..\ j*,oqa * Aqi® 1 s t ca aiv io\ *'••0 ’> 


Uemorandumt 

'> I) A Sil 


f v cv. baiiodna , air « • '•a o-i bon a At \o 

Memorandum: ., " , . 

_ i T ° 

37i« dote line speaks for itself and so requires no 
notation as to why thoughts have been flowing at such a 
brisk 1 - clip in the direction of Lyme d 1 a round the desk* 

The radio wasn't very preoise as to weather eondittons 
in that'quarter but-Z aaeuse obtaining conditions 
left something to be desired and Z'm sorry that thiswas 
so, especially as Z would have so gladly shared the 
over-flowing cup of sunshine and warmth cascading all over the 
place at this bend of the river, what with the sktes cloudless, 
the daytime temperature in the 80's and tonight's low 
calculated to be not under 57 to 60* o v . ' 

1 - 1 '' a ’. ’’ V ‘ ...ooo tsqqod sAt 

)] The post surprised we by bringing a letter to mdke my 
day perfect while all the secretaries surprised me equally by 
getting lost so that the armoir tonight holds something 
guaranteed to make tomorrow a happy day, too A o ■ 

■' ■ ■■ * ■ • , r.nisVv..., 

Under separte oover, a fairly siseable box went forward, 
and Z must say the sise’ was silly, for it contained enly a chocolate 
Easter egg 1 wanted to share, with little ^iss Lee* ' I 
couldn't find cPy suitably sised boxattd so Z made use of what 
' I hfound, even though it was out of all treason for the smallness 
of the box of candy within <• ' . a s r --. <•"' 

#U T-i.ioc bttoeuoA* - 

'J 1 Carmen telephoned me at> 8 this mornipg, full of a reeital 
of her Week end activity* Z think 1 wests ed she- brought 
Edith Porter down here on Friday* She rattlfd off so many 
points of doings that Z didn t get half of them ahd, Z'm 
sure, lost nothing* S^s wanted to read me an article 
; in the Eixie "oto magaaine, a couple of-them,^tm fact, 

3 . one about ■‘he ^haddws and Tes,ks, the athe* a bout sthb Borse Soldier • 
Z think I may get a copy to aui fn tomorrow's-post and Z feel 
sure you will enjoy th,e business about the 3h dowe* 


BCVOil 


biur'- do i -'U 


to\ lii'! 


She must have forgot she had already told we Of sows 

ir.v,;r'UM»n u 6 ,. 






From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 _ in the Southern Historical Collection, 

University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


008G 


9801 


«sajrwsrs«u- 

of a column except for E. Savereid, 


9802 




of her doings, euch aa her trip to Hodges ardena on Saturday 
where she had seen the Rocket in many layers of elothing to 
keep out the chill wind and rain, the Rocket having a crew 
of camera men and ahe the director's megaphone, She also 
fqrgo.t $he had toldxue yesterday that she had encountered Ur, Hodgei 
in one of the conservatories where he had told her he was sending 
a car for me so that I might spend the day with him shortly, 

Norman Fletcher of the radio stati on telephoned me in 
a oourtesy gesture to thank me for receiving the 
Northern writers on Sunday afternoon. He said he had 
accompanied the crowd as far as Alexandria, after leaving here and 
everyone had declared that their step here had been the high 
point of the.tr day and I broke in on Norman to say, by 
way of coining a phrase s -° 1:0 ■*' ‘ 


9troi 


ill bet you tell that to all the girls .• 

a«oUi'>iioo uiiv.ci.o a;- ec-o * * ■ 

r. As though he had been reading my mail f Herman, apropos 
of nothing remarked that oW Sunday morning at sunrits 
•i services he had found himself wishing that r, Hodges would 
foresake Ch rlie Phillips and'\Qla Mae in public relations 
in my fhvor,.\ Personally, 1 habe no desire to take over 
their jobs although I should 1 like to toss something new 
into the hopper occasionally and open up an oooasienal 
vista of greater.breadth on occasion, 

ud vi • ;• j, 

I took time out in a'^busy day of gardening to round up 
costs 0 * a two million candle power beacon light which 
I envision for the pinnacle of the memorial I am , 
hoping to -get Ur 4 Hodges- to build,'' I was x . t 

astonished that the cost of the beacon itself is only about 
fifteen, hundred dollars and that the month operation 
costs for ouch a powerful beam, operating a tonatically from 
dusk to dawn.nightly runs into only about 25 or HO 
dollars per month. It’s a ate tr} tower that runs into perhaps 
twenty thousand dollars, I don t want steel but merely 
0 mi*2«c or. glass,, the beacon ttPWis&s" concealed on a . , 
***»«#«•**» bwrtnsw tut At ~ “ 


tiiiuq 

iiiw, 




,0 b|X * 

' I don t know if 1 mentioned John Snell 
died^aiweek ago* His widow, the former Ada Jaek Carver, is going 
to ParA* fsr^a.Jong visit with*hsr sen, D a vid who heads Life 
in trapse* Ada^s sister telephoned me to say how much a letter 
would mean to Ada and I knocked one off iopight, I understand 
she has Jialf a dosed short stories th manuscript which David 
will have typed for her. Perhaps 1 should write to 
Urs,. Johnson of California sows hint of this fact 

which, as a publisher s agent, ought to interest her. 1 should think. 
And so Littie Uiss Lee's n a tal dayruns along, happy-happy, I hope,,,. 


,v,i 0 ^esday, Uarch 31st, 1959, 

i: Vu ioh 0 o h A* tv. q - ei'lt 

•i ■ i-o ?.v;M iM «ai-A- : n*e c’-V Jrl 

1 % o >0 - \ 

% ; t rv . bnoAqnoi iU «ac, tto/iB oo-Tqirt 

Memorandum* iC - v 

. • t 

It was so pleasant to get the lovely day started with 

'on h u a tt&V& U T tU ’ r iohich Ld V come 'tohald 

on*little Hiss Los's natal day,:' . 

■me secretarial assistance was excellent and I only 
regret that an unexpected call'broke eff the services 
b H 0T9 *± ad had att opportunity to undertake several 
other letters and the clippingp whioh, hywever, will provide 
another guarantee for delight on the morrow • 

I’m sure parting with your former associate must 
already be making the void felt but I'm glad you all had 

VLrle£i?* n s tV i° "S t0 J ei!h9r f° r « it*tli pre f departure 
farewell, Surely, for the associate, it must be 

a matter of some satisfaction to know that time may be 

the d llit b th°V n **Zt h an i S * ui!h » **#rsbys lessening 
the jolt that comes with such a break as is hers, 

th. inlt V ° U how uu S h 1 a PProdate all 

t«ly n. + e V n $-, h n9 * vou ha< * U UU a6 °H^ *• Sauereid 
both as to family connections and future plans. Like you, 

■I find myself asking why it ie that two suob ople did members 
“J organisation as CBS could be set floating about 
IhiZiibeginning of summer, To^my way of 

s *»«reid analysis of any sort of news is better 
Vl 3 *i 8 * 4 U t he ai r ** d & i8 oceaetpwwlyprogram given 
In* b Vl ri 9 ru i9 ooppare both for hilarity 

of hiVahLnl** ? 9 °* r 9il1 be *he duller because 

I suppose the announcement of hie -i u 
June departure has appeared in the press only, any s, 
event, 1 haven t heard anything about it mentioned on CBS, 

ComJiJEZ'n'nl h l a ii 0 p i 9p 9 Hi 0/ Ue Ball 

vo^nt tHh •zPlore the clipping o* tkatsi. 

intltJZiti T idi 1 V \J 0U . wel l ima 9 i **» *M| how. 
the tVounitsT, l* 9 H‘ SGOll /by. doings,as,J hold es.U- 

tJo\i ofc JuAw uso'& .wo'vtoj' jso stsA Rshib ao « 

ooqjijT s‘^itv'-^ooo p.i_?Ac ot'v 
droit ilitti i!t0*69(1. j' - \0 dov'il'i li'ioct 6A.:. ,6. « V.C8 

..iil^t Ad og ociaHa\ dromt 1. 00 eiA ounri _ 







From the FRA NCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #11-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


,1 

% • 


•<. - . 980.3 

. ", . o-'.a ' 


9804 




. The abrupt interruption in pursuance of correspondence, 
plue a mix-up with a stack of holding shelf material may 
make it difficult to straighten these things out before the 
morrow but ^ hope 1 oan find a note, I am under the 
impression pen in longhand from the Rooket, thanking me 
for a birthday greeting and asking me to write, her at the 
Statier in ewlork, where she plans to be until Monday, 

As I have no notion as to where she is to be addressed in this 
or the adjoining Lone Star Stats, I haven't written her so muoh 
as a card in weeks although I did rpqVest Old Mae to select 
something for the Rocket s» birthday oh the 89th, This 
must have been effeoted for there is mention, of a 


Wednesday, April 1 st, 1959, 


traveling bag or some puoh,.±, uu>»y >« upxt.uf »»»« 
view,of the modest tub sent'Ola Hae, the latter may 
had made adjoint birthday greeting on her behalf and mine to the 
aforesaid Rocket,, <.Anything those two gals do is 0 
alright, espeeially if they don't do it, 

I don't know if Ola Mae is tn New Zork or not at the moment, 
sinoe the gals may have made the junket y together or not. Be 
that as it may, I wrote Ola Mat today, suggesting she 
contact me if in this area within the immediate future sinoe 
it might. r ba as advantageous to her as to me if she gave 
me a- briefing on her part in handling odges advertising, 
since I proposed going into the matter of putlie 
relations with A, J, when spending the day with him, I 
learned today from somebody, pirhaps Edith Porter, that 


me to believe that in 


Mrs • Hodges, a oancer sufferer, btts Just taken a turn for 
t the worse no perhaps correspondence dhd oontaot with A, J, 

may be pushed aside for the moment, 

M oIuq® cc-) u ” ' 

I was provoked and said so in ho uncertain terms today 
■:o when. Carmen called me to say she had telephoned f, H, about 
having Melrose receive Shriners on Wednesday of next week, 
had advised against this move with a nope that October 
might be secured* for the tout if interested people 
rather than a floe* of uninterested Shriner's', More 
on this later, 9 * 3 ’' i y 

. .■•■o «o M i suodo yxUbWc ‘ * v 


Mrs, Walker 'phoned to say she had seen • H, at 
a peodhe meeting last night and thqt he had asked her how 
she engineered *b« securing of a column aueb as 
Cane Rivet xOne fOt-a small 'town paper,' The question 
strikes iso as unintentionally insulting to the paper 
si hut $ naturally, \£‘ was interested, ' ‘ J v , •. 


Dr, Easae as dines here on the morrow. Now what do you 
reckon she is cooking uplTonight's radio 
say s Dr, Evans, the raoial bigot of Northwestern will not 
have his oontraot renewed and so things spin,,,,,,, 


sr. b&'t&Vv.Q’lCi j>D 3 ssec^ 
<U u i j. 'o'.'. 5 a i \}d 'f usa. i a 

0 i a • • .. /' M . " :>'i 

Memorandum • ■ — 

■-o! o ' jo jiioo o ; absir sc 


• i:., aitii'a: «e .V{:oer- ; -lc, m 
D 90 ft* b»' .&v. ■ 

. . . . sc. . i ■ t 6-' • i 

iiMi.'i 1 ' . a x v -*'-i t i j 

. ' u . ' 


Things were quite rough in the elments last 
night or rather this morning between 3 and 4 , what.with 
a tamado or two to the south of us and several to the 
north. Awakened by the racket, 1 went on the front gallery 
just as some bamboo poles, festooned with gourds Want flying 
past and the rain was making horisontal courses rather than 
the straight down variety, W 9 only got' half an inch but 
that was good generally and excellent for the gourds I had 
planted yesterday. 

Today's post was fairly he a vy but I read only one letter 
«f r °* f am0 * and a brief note from Warren who enclosed an 

S ro * t} * e Louisville, Ky, f C 0 urrier, * guess, and I shall 
read the article after I have finished the other mail; such 
as something from Daisey in theDell, Jean O'Brien bncf so on, 
as 1 % time was mostly oonsumed with slaves lending a hand and 

extending the-gourd gardei further which makes no sehse as it is 
already out of.land, and including much time lost in 
people atra U iu 9 * hia way, including a lawyer searching ox for 
apnmitive for the “uchess of Windsor, etc,,'etc. Another 
somebody wanted to purchase the Father andSon picture and left 
Tor * oa £ d whioh 1 haven t examined as yet. Naturally 
the father and on would not be on the market but the man 
left his card regardless, • ■■ - 

.... «4 no $«ioo euqflin 

Essae Mae^and a lady friend arrtved half an hduf- 
late and dined across the fence, I did not make it a point 
to call but at 1 o'olook J, H, sent a slave td say 
the boss had a couple of ladies to see me at his house, 

Ceieste had already flown to town for some kind of an appointment, 
J-t had been a long time since I had seen Essae Mae, I 
couldn^t see from physical appearance she had ohanged muoh. 

We chatted a little with Madam Regard and I g a ve the two 
ffticsts two openings to stroll over on this side of the fenoe 
with met one to observe the bush on which some flowers in 
one of Celeste s vases had come, and second, a n invitation 
to *ee the Hunter murals ihthe African House, Essae Mae 
must be slipping for she snatched and neither of these openings, 

. io\ 9* no\ 9 : * W r 9 

CJlfc b«o \JT< d OBOTisV. 9*\4 TafcllWiq Om 84*'.o\\ 9 LstOOW 

i4qjvafrfrc no\ QjsiW) tei u aw «u Mfinn oofr 9d is saw 


, W 






T 


From rhe FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers. #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


M)8« 


9805 


9806 






After we said Goodbye to Madam Regard, we went out of doors 
in pleasant sunshine and Essae as proffered me what 
appeared to be a letter, signed by Miss Commie in 
194 6, but typed, J, H, had remarked to Essae Mae, she 
said, that * fcad written it. She read it and it sounded 
like me. In it, Mies Commit — or I —had expressed 
satisfaction that plans were being made to oolleot Louisiana 
writer data and offering to supply suchy material from Lyle's 
papers • Then Essae Mae asked me if I didn't remember 
h a ving written that letter for Miss Commie to sign* I 
said that only a week or two ago a lady had asked me if I didn t 
recall writing a letter to the Pope in Mies Commie s behalf about 
a divorce and that J couldn't although I had written so 
Lmany letters for Miss Commie it would be surprising if 
I remembered any of them. Then Essae Mae made 
her second mistake by asking if Lyle jb books 
were still on the shelves #» either side of the chimney 
in the living room• Obviously I wasn t goirtg to suggest 
a tour after that'. I said they were indeed there and 
Many more besides which I had hadded to the shelves in the past 
20 iedrt 3h)i obviousl)/ had not arrived. * ywhere with 
J\ H, and I\ could feel the eleotrie disappointment striking 
her consciousness that she w asn t getting to first base with 
me. I handed the ladies. into tHeir car, —they were 
going to Shreveport, —and that was^that, ,c >At supper 
tonight, I mentioned the business to J. H. who had 
dismissed it from his mind. H§ remarked that he 
' supposed I had written the letter on Miss C a mmie s request 
and that she had signed it and that that was that and 
the lhtter out no ice whatsoever, now that more than 
a dosen years had elapsed. He sq1>d there was some 
rumpus going on in theState library, and that although 
Espae Mae was over-due for stepping down,.Deborah and 
someothers didn t want her to because-they didn t 
want her replaoed b Sally Eqrrellbut he. knew nothing 
more than that foot, - r t 

* Jr o + 

*' While s till in the house, Essae Mae referred to Carolyn as 
progibly going to make a movie and r ecalled she had brought 
• her to Melrose originally and that Carolyn had never 

computed the job which.the State Library had commissioned 
her to do so long a9°+ That sounded a little ominous 
11 &ut I believe Essae Mae thinks she is likely to get s»«. 

11 a better modie out of Carolyn for the money than anyone else 
"so I guess' that will probably go through. I can t 
• Gl -' i; ' blame Essae Mae for disliking m for having thus far successfully 
blooked her efforts to plunder the Melrose Library and she 
must be too harsh on me for disliking her for attempting........ 


•\s<r v 

1 x 'j 3 

Aoue 
. ,;o o 
but) 
eo 


<r". s i 
uUi 


ini' 


. . 


Thursday, April 2nd, 19 59. 


a i ■ 
, a' 


,L iv; 


, jit 


i’o t&Slt 


. os 91 i Alt o 


ij.iB C i:-;9C4 f.'.Sl' 
o iiUld IO 98>!oA 

MemoraHdwmeioe to find Tuesday's air mail in today's 
post, re must f give Uncle Sam a credit mark for that, 
but that doesn t exactly bring into balance the minus 
sign against him for having failed to put a package 
slip in little Miss Lee's box along about 
Sunday as I>had planned on him doing, 

o«ot , S oius tsjA 

It seems especially humiliating that my little 
greetings should have failed so miserably to re a oh home 
base on time as I had even withheld it from the miil one 
day thinking it might arrive too far ahead of time. Well, 
perhaps it has reached you by now, I hope, and 'if so, 
you may be .able to tell tfrom <the cancellation date 
that it should have been received before it actually was. 

The second little package conatining some chocolates 
ought to be delivered by the Fourth of July at the 
latest, I should think. 


Sk 

' )• 


S3 


CO UC r.it iOQ 

It goes without saying I am delighted to have news of 
the two celebrations that marked yvur natal daty and I'm 
so glad to knew things turned so neatly. I 
hold the thoughtzthat in spite y ef the radio for t s 
somewhat indistinct remarks about the weather, all 
may have at least have had a touch of the Spring about it. 

o 


•\ oar *t so 1 


| o* iUA si blu™ 

I pray*you not to mosey to the Library abdut 


itVI*t 08 


itO 


3 8 




to 







l«2 VJJ 


the Jallsn thing unttl some sort of a convenient 
break arrives for I am sure the publishers will not 
be calling gfor the portrait for weeks ahead if at dll. It 
scams, a little odd that i hqve failed to hear fto b 
Mrs, Johnson although, at the moment, I ******* o* 

don t seem to recall just why I wrote her except 
that ames suggested Idoso. My‘grapevine tells me 
tbaiapda that Ada Jack Carver Snell has a ooupls '^ 
short Movels and half a dose*-short storied tn 
manuscript that she has written -durina the past decade 
or so. lkts: wight be interesting to Mrs, Johnson 
if she ever. gets around to writrj Ada Jack is leaving 

t sit it*' 0 cit »<S Llitu 
i bite •tsAoi'oO oi 
irtt Asia 


o*t 

stab a^onitfcli 1 
Mtiiiic-i rest bit 


lit 


iti 


bio* 1 


ij ?>C\G_C 

Cit 

Jsor « 




" fll HOI) 






30W 


From the 


Francois Mignon Papers, #M -3889 


in the Southern Historical Collection, 


University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


f 9807 


COW- 


9806 


i t ;tU 


S"fU 


™e* to spend a while with her son, D a vid. at his 
hou«e at Boulogne-sur-Seino, near Saint Cloud, a nd Mrs 
J-ofcnaon write to her there although it is'pZssible 
t«mditr> 1 ‘i d lh Wheae + Z 0n iakead °s Li/* in France mag not 

need*to bother with agents* 

, . > the Rocket *!«• in in time for the second r.i 

to me r er A f symbolic about that, it seems 

hlJ Itr, 1 * koi iS k t perhaps Ol a M ae might have gone with 
her since 1 don t seem capable of raising a letter from 

lith I'll tr bUt pe l ha P* the youth from j Win den u 

"It* to be a ln e0 elLrt°in aa i*** ***** »•?* and 

n ine! nil l 5 pe rt ** »a**-up # of all, things, but 

also toirludi* Vl apecid \\y *• concentrated on people or 
also includes fofests to boot, for, as I recall the 

current Bodges film may be entitled Carden in theForest 

Tou will have noted before now that there was no * 

taiina'off 0 oompaniona iu h *? Alexandria note before 

Knew the local pulse pretty well and that sinn» 
imperative for an October tour, it would be folly to 

«*•» «*»»• It. /.n„ v 

and so run the risk of ruining the October ohanoos /iu 

3 ?%L*ZS.Z*« - 

M»» a * 1 -- -—-:_ 


-a*' 


Xridq/ , April 3rd, 1959. 


; s»u 


TaitalL too* 

Memorandum: * 


iri 


Such a lovely day and the promise of no rain for the 
next five, making me glad the good $arth is moist from our 
last shower so the gourd seeds will germinate nicely • 

I suppose one of the exceptional delights in gardening 
is the unusual and inexplicable things that plants are 
forever doing, $ . ? vu. 

Hard by the old magnolia by the side gate is. where 
in deep summer the B£vil lilies thrive • They are tropioal 
and usually up wi n th their greenery, not in April but 
late Hay and so too often they haven't jsade up their 
minds to flowef un’til so late that the frost pf November 
discourages any attempt in that direptipn, x he space 
they ocoupy always looks a little forlorn at this time 
of the year, the surface of the ground being bare enough of 
vegetation, After getting started in mjd May, 
the plant usually attains a height of a foot and a half m 
about mid July • Tou may rpadily, therefore, imagine 
how floored 1 was this morning when I noticed one single, 
solitary devil lily which, when nobody had been thinking 
of looking in that direction, had suddenly attained a 
height of at least two and a half feof and appears to be 
* going strong all by itself without one of its kinsmen having 
so mucK as peeped about the ground's surface . .1 don't . 
attempt to explain the phenomenon buf simply ponder on the marvel. 

. M4 1 ^ fl® j f )l . o* T W t' * v)») V ' ' «J • l # ^ ^ 1 

. A telephone from the Lost Word today indicates she 
is getting down this way on Saturday or Sunday, I s* 

have an idea it will be s unday for I shouldn't be . 
surprised if she should be driving to Baton Rouge to 
meet the Manhattan jet about the time the Rooket s., 
flies in, 'Ola Mae says Mr, Hodges is almost dis¬ 
tracted about his wife whom he removed from the Cardens os 
r’ . 4i «sA« ** olbbi\ o 

......... t iii ici I- t y - V- 



From rhe FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers# #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library", Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


808 t: 


9809 


usy. 


9810 


Monday morning, taking her from the island home there to 
the hospital in Shreveport and turning over most of his 
affirs to his secretariat, I reckon my Scrapbook letter 
my therefore have never reached his true hand,Vell, 
it will be interesting to learn whose had it did -reach and 
whether I shall have to put that subjeot on the same list 
with a-dozen others to be taken up with him on the day I spend 
with him in the Bardens, 1 


On the home front there seems to be no end of spilled 
milk over which L am not crying although Carmen by her 
determination to have her own way at the expense 
of everyone quoted me out of text and put Celdste in 
a tizzy and made J, E, the objeot of much persecusion from 
his spouse, I had thundered at Carmen, telling her under 
no circumstances to t>ry to engineer the Shriners hersl She 
went over my headland asked J, E, regardless and then told 
me, I denounced her, She said that if J, H, wanted it, what 
was there to be done, I said I didn't know but that I 
would be guided by J, E, 's decision and go along with that, 

Then she called Celeste and told her J, E, had given 
the Committee permission to come to Melrose and that J 
said I was agreeable, Somehow it all sounded liVe 
something the remlin boys could twist up so that nobody 
would ever get the straight*, of it. Celeste in'a furry is 
goipg to have ladies <n cuetume to assist her at the big 
house*. I am not opening the upper*- story of the African 
Bouse and am putting nobody fs that building and I Shall 
receive at Yucca alono # shat with Ora teaching that afternoon, 
Mrs, Walker busy getting out Thursday morning's newspaper 
and Juahita B, sot being asked because of her present 
• is'; "interesting condition", Celbste says sheets going to 
resign from the Iysterieal Ladies and, probably to her 
shook,.* endorsed her declaration which will probably make 
her change her mind* ' What a basket of chips over 
nothing, *■ -• .'•& v v - : ” S! : 

■ J, _*• •_.! i;; * •_ o 3. L 5 -TO' 

Like everybody else this side of the Iron Curtain, 1 am re¬ 
joicing tonight that thi^ed-Iing-of Tibet eluded the Communists 
and reached India safely, Eoio stupid of the“smart 
Chinese Communists to fiddle with Tibet when it couldn't 
possibly be anyting but a liability,,,,,,,,, 



i. 


Sunday, April 5th, 1959, 


H ' ’ \ 

■ ‘ r , 

Memorandum: t »• 

* ' ' ' ‘ u 

Lovely weather and may it be equally so • 
in Lyme, „ 

. j, E, and J, E, Williams left early this morning for 
Dallas to attend some convention at which Ezra Taft Benson 
is to speak and the plaoe always seems a little laoking in vibrancy 
when he is away, • 

was pretty busy Saturday morning ,but stuck dose 
to Yucca, expecting to see Ola Mae "this week end", 

. 

Saturday's post brought a letter from Mr, «• 

Bodges and because Ola Mae handles some of his public 
relations, 1 thought.it wise to write a r espouse to 
the letter and not seal it, seeing if it oould be 
more advantageously phrased, following my chat with 
Ola Mae, • £ 0 ' B 


Some Lafayette friends passed this way Saturday 
evening, inviting me to break bread with them 
in town but ^thought it better to decline and so not miss 
the lady • s ■ . ‘ ’ ' ** 

; 3 0 

She did not appear, however, and so L called it a day 
by midnight but was up and a—stir a little earlier this 
morning to pttend to several ohores before the day got going. 
About 10, the Jacks, spending the week *nd at 

the Rand camp, came over to invite me to dine with them and their 
Shreveport friends but'l declined, thinking Ola Mae 
might make it at noon. She did not however, and 
so, when: I went across the fence for supper at 6, I 
left a note for Jier here. In the midst of supper, 
the party line jingled and Celeste answered, —tho artist 
oailing me, bu\ saying she had dialed my nmber but didn t 
want to talk with me there. This caused vast curiosity but while 
I felt sure it was to indicate Ola Mae had stopped there 
on route:, £ went on leisurely with■ my supper. When 
' I gat b a ck here and hour later, * called the artist who 
said she had merely called to ask if she could have some 
gourd seed. She could. She hadn t seen anybody this week 
end looking for me. 





From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPE RS# #H~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 




9811 


9812 


. *:£ .i ( iU'i' iS*l< v 

At 10 tonight, Mrs. Walker tlephoned to say she and her 
family had spent the day at Hodges Gardens, had found Hr. Hodges 
looking very sad and that they had passed Ola Hae twice, 
once when getting on the electric ferry ghbat going to the island, 
and that Ola Hae was getting off as they were getting on, and 
again when they returned to the main land, as-.they were getting 
off the boat, Ola was getting on, heading toward the island 
residence. I figure poor Ola Mae must be vA o. 

still on the boat which probably lost all its electrioity half way 
between shore and island and is probaby still.floating, 

Smile • In any event, Ivnever did see the lady and so I 
shall seal the letter to ^r. Hodges and post it regardless 
on the morrow, . es ■■ ■' 

The letter, — I'm sorry I didn't make a copy for you,— 
acknowledged his letter and mentioned that at• pur next meeting 
I want to remember to mention a monument for the Gardens, That 
was all, qnd in just about those words • It occurs to me that 
monument is better than memoirial under present 
oiroumstanoes although, should Mrs. Hodges die 
before I see her husband, the^ monument may readily 
be transformed into a memorial and so have an even 
stronger appeal, . ' i 

Mrs. Walker opined, that she thought I ought to work closely 
with Ola *ae since she seems to handle much of the 
advertising, a a in the case of the Scrapbook * I told Hrs. Walker 
in writing Ola Hae last week I had written some, such 
sentence as: 

. h >v; . ' '■ i ' « ' ' - 

I m sorry not to have- seen you within the ten day 
, interim you mentioned, on your last visit and, 

in the mean time, have forwardeded. on advertising 
• 5 .. ; idea to Hr. Hodges about which I should hope liked to ' 

di 8 cua« with your before posting", ■' frn -\. 

(l 3 -oh i t-. .ir oh Sc • i 

I. don t know how long weekkends are supposed tox last 
but perhaps it continues through Mondcy , f, hope, especially 
if Ola Has- should be planning to oontad. the Rocket inBatonRouge 
on the morrow. But one thing is certain^ t . o 

o I'n making no attempt to keep, up with either the Socket 

to whom I did not write ins Hewfxrk or with the Lost W 0 rd but shall 
be happji to, maintain relations if they have time occasionally. 

If the arch 30 th greeting basn t reached little ^iss Lee's true hand 
by now, I want to attempt to duplicate it on advice on subject 
i ■ , *•.«•> uses Hlrjii «» . ',0 .b»96 'Ot 0v>. 

• sim QHitfooi. 


Monday, April 6th, 1959, 


Memorandum 

Another lovely day, sort of 80-ish. 

The low tonight will be about 60 and 1 am glad it 
is warm because I had some painting done todpy and 
while 1 like the smell of turpentine, I am glad to have it 
tempered a bit with balm breexe * from the south, what with alll 
windows and doors open, \ 

I may have mentioned a fewmonths ago that something 
got stuck in the storage tantf holding butine over by 
the big house, from which heating gas is Damped to 
the several houses,, When the gage gets sfuok, —and 
nobody can $per anticipate,su pa a thing, it feeds extra air 
to the gas with a result that the gas stones do extraordinary 
things, shooting flmaes ,of a half inoh or less extent up 
into the air $ or 4 feet with a roar suggesting the raoket 
made by a passing jet. aturally, before I could 

turn off the tyostove that chance to be going at the 
time in_the boudoir and bath, the flames made the woodwork 
/ look dihgy K enough, —hence today's painting • . j c 

The post brought a^letter f rom.Iyme today and it sits in 
thearmoir awaiting the'morrow, what w ith all the secretaries 
still getting over their week end /folio. It goes 
without saying I await ih,eir recovery by tomorrow's 
dawn, I hope, there bye assuring me of the pleasantest 
promise to start the day off right with a note from little 


promise to start the day pff right, with a note from little 
Hiss Lee. a 

I called Juanita B. this mornihg, asking her if 
she wanted to come down on Wednesday afternoon to scuffle ar und 


at ucoa with the Shriners. She asked if Celeste and her 
hostesses (hosteses) t in the big, hons% would be 
wearing costumes.’ I'said they wquld but nobody had 
to wear costumes at Tucca if costumes seemed impracticable • 
She 8 aid her unborn child seemed to make orawling into her 

t 4\;o bailuq ,<Ul -s 3'-no ;o ' r ».vr -u a \;oiIon 

..iiaaeiic/.- ooo..• 









FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers, #f1-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection 
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9814 


9813 


Tuesday, April 'Sth, 1959 


Memorandum \ 

etSauQtv • - v • * 1 ■ 

It was so nice to be able to’ begin the day with a message 
from line, as of Friday, last past, 

• ' - Ki aoolq sj os «&•>** ** w v *\ ' '\ j • 

It does seem odd that the pacKdge took so long to 
get anywhere, I have already started the wheels to duplioate 
the little gifi * package buta little time "will be consumed before 
I have achieved just what I want and perhaps in She mean time 
Uncle Sam's postal boys will have 'made u'p their minds, I 
know not why but possibly because of imagination or perhaps 
because of fact but whdtexfer the reason, it seetis to me 
that small packages seem to have less luck in parcel post 
than medium sited ones. Perhaps somewhere along 'the line,as 
in the case of the little cotton bale, someone suspect that 
"good things come in little packages" and somehow 
they offer a greater temptation to those handling them It 
seems ridiculous to suppose a~ phckage as big as a house would 
have to be employed tocarry anything like, say, a 
miniature of the first Secretary of the Treasury, doesn t itl 

' . T. v„ 

As for the news a bout the cancellation of the 
appointment, 1 was almost as shocked as I was about 
the initial check of rubber’, I have no doubt the Rocket 
is exhausted, —T ,‘cannot see how she can be otherwise, 
but other people can be exhausted, too, and I think the 
unending rushers should keep that in mind, too • I’m woudering, 


the store typewriter to pen him a little note 

recommending he make a gesture of magnanimity in 

the direction of The Bluff by going over there te bring 

lay home . What with the distinction of ' _ 

the type of my correspondence on this machine, I thought 

it would be easier all around if I employed mother 

design of type for a Hurry-to Bob admonition, --which 

was the only reason I used the othdT machine but apparantly 

I was being a little too subtle, —hence the 

Remington in today’s deliveries, j 

I guess the week end must still be on since Ola Mae was 
going to,put in an appearance on the aforesaid week end 
and hasn t shown up as yet. She and the *6cket are gals of 
unusual gifts but obviously dependability does not 
appear to be among their virtues • I must say that with 
each passing decade, I incline to believe more firmly 
than ever that dependability is’indeed 
one of the cardinal virtues, 

I was mildly surprised when , H, appeared tonight at 
supper time. After all the Dallas convention was scheduled 
for Monday and Tuesday, I suppose he went early Sunday to do 
what ever marionnette business there w as to be undertaken before 
policy was trotted out, and once rigged up, pulled out, 
his work accomplished •••••••• 


toot that if she was too tired to get up to your neighborhood, 
what would she have felt like if she had carried through 
her original intention which L discouraged, —thaking her teen age 
nephew with her. As I have quoted before, « 
quote agatnr'[ m * I, ! , ' 

"The longer I live, the longer I live*" 




Mi QJOT 








From the FRANCOIS HlGNON PAPERS, #H~3889 

University of North Carolina Library t Chapel Hill 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING; MOST MANUSCRI 


9816 


Wednesday, April 8thl 19 59 


Today has been another lovely one but quite busy, 
although I must confess not busy with any preparations 
for tomorrow's Shriners. I was delighted to discover 
on going for coffee at 9 that Madam Regard and I would 
be sipping alone, She looks quite frail and said she 
was so glad to be alone, her daughter keeping her 
in such a nervous state that she really feels she oouldn t 
make it if she didn't have me to share her troubles and 
weep on a broad shoulder, She is so happy Celeste is going 
into aeolusion or whatever it is the girls go into over 
this coming week end at the "retre'at" some place in the country 
down beyond Alexandria. : 

«J* ly' , i, a 0 '■» A O G » O v* * - * w w m 3 v • v -. 

. .iTi 

Mr, and Mrs, James Reily of Marshdown, Slidell, came on 
schedule, just after the departure of an unexpected guest, 
the daughter of F. D, R,'s former decretory of War Woodring, I 
liked this lady and her husband, both of v enver. As for 
the *etlys, we had a grand time, —our first meeting but 
has happilycongeal'ed as though we had known eah other 
for ever • Tt was the R eilys who supplied. Carrie 

with her fiften thousand dollars fo> her Id Flower 
publication and it was the same Reilys who bought The 
Shades so Miss Eva Scott could spend her last years 
without plantation worries, —the Reilys having been 
' possessed of much wealth and cousins to Miss Sva to boot • 

I believe the Reily fortune stemmed from coffee and 
J 'they live*on R arshdown simply because they like the 
country, I didn't get around to ask if they were going 
to give the Shades to a Foundation but L believe they 
are after Miss Ev n 's departure, Mr, Reily and'Lyle_ 
used to go there often in the bid days and_I reckon I have 
regaled you with accounts of my own visits to' The Shades, 
once wi-ph Lyle, Robtiia ahd Miss Cammie wheref rj we had ■ 


lthin* wiaeiy scattered showers and I'm r. 

liking it even tonight as the drixeles continue. 

about a * in °b thusfdr and I onlv 
g e we didnt get twice as much and constantly . V 

'drtMMU*b?aZl 1 lL aa i' Ut JlM 0U ^ and *ith the 

T± inil.Z ? tn " ihg . aboui> 11 • »“oh *0 my delight. 

1 ff rai1 \ 9d im P re "i oely about noon but iapereded 
off and stopped altogether by S o'cloak. 


f S.to., «. perhapaSOO ,r \ 

Jh.lS'SSfiL*! htr criuolin s, Mi 

though she and her oostume had Just 
a rain barrel, ***, explai^d iVtao 
town and ske had been thoroughly soa 

£*£***;£*? " a9 /ine f° r tbat 

ra t h V than re8 * at h * 

f 9aoher » F had been oontendi 

iV±k *** had 9tt 9i*erred the 

in the fashion she did. 

bovt # ok ec. "■ •' jit 

l 77 .^ ddl 9 enough but rather typical 
a 11 f»a Ussy of delight thii% 0 rhi 
** hnttetpattom of a frolic with i 
and ehe had a fleck of them Mth her 


3 












From the FR ANCOIS HlGNON PAPERS* #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


awe 


9817 




9818 




Thursday, April 9th, 1959, 


I believe, I ma impreaaed by the sight of three or 
four of them who looked aa gay aa Easter potted 
plants, and they probably appeared the brighter 
to me becuaae I waa jumping about, trying to be 
in two place a at the same time, —Fucea and the<African 
House, and getting along surprisingly well without 
the half dozen hostesses I am want to have at 
Pilgrimage time • ' w 

It never rained a drop during the afternoon go- 
round but it poured again just after the final bus 
had departed, As for thi people, except for the fact 
that many of the gentlemen wore those ridtoulous 
turbans of their order, the people were quite nioe 
and some Kansas City people and some from New Mexico 
I liked very much. The Kansas c ity group were 
disturbed about the radio noon news about snow in 
Kansas City and one of them while here telephoned his 
home to give instructions about the rose garden 
iohioh was , threatening to grow in several members of 
the aforesaid garden just before he left home and 
he was worried a bout what a covering • snow would 
do to the new growth, . 6 

Today's post was fairly he a vy but none of 
the letters seemed to be from anyone exciting great 

the recipient, j Probably tht 


itae*; 


* 


.ii-n ij*v. 


the letters seemed to be from anyone exciting great 
interest on the part of the recipient . Probably the 
A, J, Hodges is a mere acknowledgment of a 2T»an k You 
letter about sunrise servtoe for I take, it . 

mail, like decisions, are executed leisurely • There 
seems to be something from the Park Commission which 
never brought anything of interest to me, etc,, eto, 
for once I am not fulminating because, a secretary arrived 
. at the wrong time and did. not r e turn in todight's rain, 
coin osc-tl^ >» • - y^ 

Mr, Walker telephoned me 'this morning to read me 
the Shreveport Times blast against D?, Medford Evans, 
the guy being bounced from Northwestern beeause of 
his mania to talk a bout racial matters rather than 
to teach, I can t understand what oan be happening to 
% tke s hreveport Ti me $ for an editorial of this s ort 
is as unbelieveable aa would have been something 
favorable abopt F, D, R, in either the Shreveport 
Times or the l hicago Tribune * r .* 3 % 9 an d i think , 

U read a little from Par* Inriner ge-raund.. 

I'll enjoy the r elaxation, joxj .y 


. .'v.. i\ 




tl 

liitoioc 


, oto \q • ,-o frusAa to ii 

Memorandum: Aoui o- e>*\: 

• ’’ ,er. suu 

Cloudy and cool all day, with drizzles in the morning and 
continued cloudiness without.drizzles in the afternoon. 

Tonight it is drizzling agin and we.can take all the 
heavens care to bestow although we do not need the chill, 
especially as the gourd crop is just beginning to 
push above ground, ' 

I, got around to examine the post and found 
much to delight me in Mrs, Martin s letter, fo although, 
as letters go, it isn t much by way of a letter, still, 
as to data it provides about Hodges u agdens, it is of the 
greatest interest, it seems to me• Somehow it 
uudetLines the sensation I am forever experiencing these 
days whenever 1Q X contemplate the gardens, —whether it 
is better to attempt to intorduce taste into 
a domaine so heavily encumbered with bad taste, 
trying to re-create beauty out of the tacky, or, on the other 
h a nd, it it better to simply wash one's hands of the 
who e business nad le a ve it to Nature to spread 
a concealing embroidery of flora other much that man is doing 
to deface the landscape •• ' 

' ' . • « 

Perhaps it is beause I have so long envisioned a marvelous 
estate embellished with Federalist architectural units, 
by taking the year of the Louisiana Purchase, for example, as 
the tonal tijne note for the project, borrowing heavily 
oa did Jefferson and his con temporaries on the "glory that 
was ffreece", that I a m so knocked flat by 
the sudden emergence of a "Baptist pagoda" which is 
neither Baptist nor pagoda but a horribleoaricature, 
a s though a child had painted a beard on Mona Lisa • 

. : 3<S • .'"If i T V ' ( ” ' lu 

Some day, 1 hope somebody will explains to me how it was 

thaf such people as those gangster-eus Renaissance Lords had 
the wisdom to enoourage the best artists of their time and how it 

e ' ho f'&Ji «i oaAailows! s«- in I’d •! > m q 9 * 
faawaa* sAi io\, Icyaa 

u Si bu,A o* «an 06 to OS 4<(*e U;c fs 

itt' 1 * • &Se')T tuor. 3i 6T r>• OBL a -'LOiT'v hi' 

Tftf.hol b but) otcuob taAcifi SI Si.o4 r , 

\o air v >,j.)xo bfbiiftlqe o a i bifuaewob kuojtV- 
•••••• i TOrtjnJ* Hi !' : ' ?. '• . 








From the FR ANCOIS HiGNON PAPERS, #H-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


flirt*! 


9819 




9820 


Friday, April 10th, 19 59, 


that so many planters, the vast majority of whom knew 
little or nothing about the orders of architecture, had 
the good luck to sponsor the building of such 
fine mansions, 

..j , '• ‘ -t 

Somehow, it all seems so logical that a person 
like Mr, Hodges should haoe fallen into the hands 
of people with no more taste\ than himself, apparantly, and 
oj if the same person who gives me some light 

on the Renaissance and the‘ante bellum period 
would kindly impart the triok of persuading Mr, 

Hodges to spend his mtllions to better effeot arohitooturall 
^should really feel tremendously indebted, 

:io * ■ ' :::;i "'•* * ' 2"; 

t Mrs, Walktr advises me of a letter from 

la Sullook, of the National Sites Foundation, 

- o 3 saying she plans to be in Louisiana, —New Orleans, 

New Jberia and Natchitoches, bn May 4th to 9th,, 

And further la Rullook sayeth she intends gathering up 
t the Shadows oook book material while a t :L 
x jlsw Lberia and proposes to oontact one Lestan 
with d view to an Introduction t 

j. s . . v\ <j$ 4i £l -ji kt; &ea«ieuc a &•>'. 

Rosalind Aswell telephoned me at dusk dark tonight. 

She said Luther anrison had jxibt called hb-r from Shreveport 
saying he has 14 ladies from Wichita Falls, Texas, 
whom he proposes to tour through the • 

Natchitoches country and asking la Aswell to 'phone me 
t to ask if he. nay bring the 14 biddies here on the 
morrow, K &he.answer is "But No", After all, 
the place is still unhappy about yesterday's 300 Shriners, 

i 

ti i’oiiha teio" o \o r.abme s/s 

t My chief delight in today's occupations has been the 

, securingof a huge sill of cypresswhioh J ; 

I discovered inoorpoated in the lumber barn, 
being demolished, I believe it oamS from the 
so great tarn* -»the Marie Therese third unit that made 
j a trilogy when one considers uaoa and the African House, 

x he great barn was demolished in 1927 and this sill apparent, 
employed for the lumber barn, J, H, seemed delighted I want, 
it and sent 20 or 30 men to haul it on a truok to 
the African M ouae where it now rests • I gnsss it is 
about 12 inches square and about 4 feet longer than 
the African Mouse and is a splendid example of colonial 
_ buildin g material in the timber !<»••• •••• _ 


off i nil 1* 


:i wori an ot 
■> aohu 

> mo an it tis 


*103 03 


1 , ,3dabivi uoi\ \4o8 * v , 

Memo randumt 4: 

• ,'C'V 303 \0 ' ha" 00 0*10 3 3 ‘j 1 

Delight is a poor word to express my delight in today's 
two messages from Lyme, both of which were perfect, 

oMifrni'VCj, ao.;;? «oov;.'> ‘ a, vi Mi oH V° 

I am especially entranced at the picture of the Soldiers 
and ^ailorSi Monument and I shudder only at the thought 
of all the searching for it entailed. But, in spite 
of my regrets over the labors envolved, I must confess my 
enchantment-at having it is beyond measure, too, for it is 
just exactly-the thing*.I haoe in mind for the gardens atop 
the tallest hill where the revolving beacon can sweep 
the skies by night and the monument, itself, egn forever 
stayd as the' proper tone for the neighborhood it will dominate 
and all this on the assumption that I can sell the idea of musing 
something along these lines, —the pillars of marble or 
wood,.the body of the building of glass, — but, of 
course, Mr, Hodges may nots ee it the way I do, 

■ t 3 ; * •• 

I am so glad, not'because of their content but simply 
from the satisfaction of knowing they got s through, that the 
natal dayund Easter greetings eventually reached little 
Miss, Lee’e true hand. And, of course „ l’m, 
glad' you liked the contentre. The only reason for the 
Hamiltonian influence was because, had I been able to 
get to some boutique that sold pretty china, I should 
have tried to find a dab of fedgebood but since I couldn t 
I thought little Miss Lee wouldn’t mind acting in 
my behalf in making some little Selection in that line or in 
making use of same for a little evning out with her girl friend, 
perhapsFor anyone but little Mite Lee, it would probably 
be next to impsssible to imagine how difficult for 
Lestan to get so far as a bazaar, let alone, oh.oe there, tracking 
down something he would actually want to selsdt for marking 
a n anniversary,^ But as little Miss Lee understands 
all suofc natters so well, therS is not ihe vaguest doubt in 
Lea tan 1 s> mind tha t she comprehends all and, in this special 
case, doesn’t mind acting as agent j 


*.oa «oo« Bl 


\o 3rtV \.o B-itV.o 

rriuswuo ad efr 8,-"3b8 


0 33 Jf.03\ *'( 
tii imuioo e 


Lid© 






From rhP FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 




9822 


9821 






Mid, speaking of agents, nay I say how indebted I am 
for all the ground work done in •James' behalf at the Public 
Library, My guess is, from the wording of the article 
about the proposed article coneering allon, ythat 
the response was not sufficiently brisk to warrant the 
publication of a likeness of Jaloon since printing 
of pictures in the 1830's was terribly expensive, as T under a tan 

T paBS the neW3 alon 9 to James, suggesting 

to little M i8s Lee in the mean timei.that she desist 
searching while 'suggesting to James that he 
brorrow the Socket 's make up nan ** smile—and 
* h a veJtimself darkened, up a bit, his perruke frizzled 
° robe drapedabout his person and thus have 
his likeness struck, presenting same to the purblishers, 
if a n tl$ as a likeness of the Natchez slave-prince , 

_ v V"', ,, ! . - 

Thanks for giving me a pioture of the u ocket who, 
obviously, was running behind schedule as usual,, I breath the 
)cnoa th * rui)b * r Check was taken care of, and I shall 
be holding ny breath until 1 learn that it, —the new 
one, did not, in its turn, bounce, too,, u 
Of voaurse I h a ve heard nothing from the Rocket sinoe 
the Alexandria letter prior to her departure, And, oddly 
enough, -J- haven’t heard from the Lost Word either, 
so I wrote the latter today\ asking »How Come" about 
last week end and asking her to hand a copy of a 
letter to the Park apartment, which I had mailed 
to Henry Clay Watson, Curator of Fort Jessup, 
in pursuance of his complaint that J didnt know 
about all the good work the department had been 
doing, I thought the opportunity, excellent to suggest 
charity on his part, if the department .insists •' - 
on keeping its light under a bushel" and inquiring 
if Carolyn Ramsey, maker of the Hodges Qarden film and 
t other documentaries fir the various Baton Rouge 
Departments, had ever done anything for .the Park Depart¬ 
ment to help eradicate the ignorance in which the 
rest of us labored as Regardin' the j. ctivities o'f the 
aforesaid department^ uir ' . < 

I was out much today under a cloudy sky, working 
at gardening, but in spite of that, I did receive 
7 calls before noon from readers of The Age of 
Anne, —this week s column which seems to be causing quite 
a stirx -,....... 


SMoA .'diei OtU IT,!' 

I «.u‘. -,v «•; »\v. i:i. b»iv ; bu* : oA et»v 

'r S? _ <« »T \ •* AM •, f (' V , A ' » , 

' ’ * D * * VJ®' ' •" ,j J - 1 

./■ - snii^oeqo no stsi’ 

.. y.i n s: !\tr t U- , r . 


Sunday, April 18th, 1959 , 

;on\ n\jlr: t Q»D-t 

• ■' • t ' 

* . x>£- b«; . ofle S i. t 

c ; 

i;; s: ;I -t » l 
- *to\ 

sAA At in a oj 90i-.aV 


8<J I, 


iseonAq 


BO IDO 
Auo 


igyAc\ :>r 
•goA 


* ' 

QI9H 


Memorandum : 

. it 3 ... . ■ l .-.-'; ..','1 :• 

•' The attached note speaks for itself if anybody 
wants a fine example of uncertainty, 
t oA ’*,0 \s. >« tuaioo ya '.ti" 

It sprinkled for 18 hours on Saturday but the 
sun has been out all day and the moon is out tonight al though 
it has remained ohill through out, 

■. to-t ov . A3", . 0 - t . 

While at coffee with Madam Regard on Saturday morning, 

I had a telephone oall from Carolyn from Hodges Gardens, 

She said she had Just called Thelma to ask her if the 
college ' library could give some notion of the French flag 
of 1714, and then she remembered that I might have 
some notion of its appearance and henoe the oall. The native i 
iris at the ardens are coming into flower and she had in mind 
taking a shot at them and gradually metamorphose the 
sdene from the native iris into a banner heavily 
sprinkled with fleurs-de-lys. She envisioned a velvet 
flag but J told her that wouldn t flap and that silk, satin 
or linen would be more appropriate , She said nothing 
a bout Hew Fork, Baton Rouge or Hodges, 

i o ' i ... 

Thelma called me half an hour later, asking about 
a J.ouis I1V flag, eto,, and then added that the 
dedication of the gardens at Hodges would be on Friday, 

May 1st, that John had been asked to give the oration 
a nd he and she wanted me *to go with them, I told 
her I would see, s. 

• Luos :,sn Ov oie; r ... niU 

This afternoon a bout 1, the owner of the Waco newspapers 
and his wife appeared at my door, bearing the 
attached note, I gave them a tour, 

• uoy 

Along about 5, some youth appeared at 
my door. He said he w a s working with Carolyn, had 
been to Hew Fork with her, had had an appointment 
to meet her at Melrose at 3, had waited 8 hours and 
so had had the courage to searoh for me to learn 
if I had heard anything, I gave him the note 
to reads throwing no light on anything, of course. 








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Monday, April 13th, 2959* 


rang, Carolyn calling from Hodges Cardens , saying, among 
other things, that Mrs, Hodges had just died in Shreveport 
a nd that she and Ola Mae would be coming over here about 
8. I gave the youth who was here an opportunity to 
talk with Carolyn and they settled their business • 

_ J * departed for across 
with the lady jus.t back from the retreat 

Back here at 7*45, 


Memorandum j 

Cold and blue and cold and gold today, sort of 50 ish, 
and air-}8h and cold and silvery and airish tonight, sort 
of 3 SisH. , 

sV'i'-. 'i \ £•/;;i TO .'.OltbT''- SU \J0 

There seemed to be so much non-descript mail today 
I never did get around to do more th a n dip into a few 
of the letters, exoept for Lionel's which I read 
throughout and found excellent, especially his 
analysis of Hodges Gardens* — t 

■ ’ ' ' '* -n't' : 0 1 r v .t’\ C U ’J V* OC • 0- v • * V 

I didn't open one from Kay and I only glanced through 


He departed for ffatchitoches and 

the fence to sup i.. 

which had been a darling week end • 

I found the R oeket and the Lost word already arrived • 

. . ■ • s,r > a.) !.;,w 

First we consulted the map of Hodges Gardens to decide 
where the most likely place for the Macdowell 
project should be situated and determined that point, I 
thought Ola. Mae dp peared exhausted • We talked advertising 
not much, °la M a e being too tired, Carolyn said her 
Hodges pictures was about two thirds finished • I gave her 
the Botanical Journal on your behalf and she seemed mighty 
happy bout it* I retained the rest of the matieral 
included in the large envelope beoausel was 
delighted with all the ideas contained therein, I moved on 
. to the Soldiers and Sailors monument thing and 

to my surprise, Carolyn said to be sure not to show that 
to Mr, Hodges for. he might aocept the suggestion at my 


the beginning of Daisey in the Hell, indicating she t 
is threatening to honor me on Sunday next with a visit, 

I shall get to both of these later* Rabbi Binstock responded 
to my note of appreciation but I shallput off 
reading that until the morrow, too There were a few 
others of even less moment and I shall turn to them at 
tomorrow'8 session-with a secretary • 

I find it so odd that while Lionel always suggests 
in his communications something that makes him valid 
enough as 1 the nepheip of a Bishop, J never think of him 
a s a retired banker when reading his letters and bis 
personal appearance somehow, strangely enough suggests a 
fusion of , r* B a chelier and Mr* Hodges • 

I must give some thought sometime to the various 
media whhich people appear to in their most perfect 
individual form, —Mrs* Walker, for instance, on 
the telephone is really much more charming than 
she can ever appear in person, Mr, Hodges much better 


phrase 


in person than correspondence, little Miss Lee excelling 
equally in all three such category which is really remarkable 




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VUHl! 


9825 


9826 


Tuesday, April 14th, 1959. 


T have intended asking before now if you are 
luoky enough to round up Invitation to Learning 
these days. I suppose it continues to be broadcast 
on Sunday but I get it only on Monday's from 
<9j30 until 9 over one of the clearer stations 
in this area, —WVL, the CBS affiliate in New rlea s. 

Tonight they did Sohiller's William Tell and 
I was delighted with the whole business. It 
was mentioned,, that nobody has ever done a decent transla¬ 
tion.in English and that does seem a great pity,-, especially 
as the original German is said to be so fine. I think 
I have read it only in French and probably at such 
tender age that I 


do not remember if the translation 


had much merit or not. 

\ 91 1 . 6* lai-Oi- . .. vj‘CV*07>.0 . . J. 

Ileisxt week's program,will probably be 
of scant interest to me, —Maughn's Moon and Six¬ 
pence, but I should so much likq to hear the following 
one when they will don Prescott s Conquest of 
Peru, a book I must re-read before long as it 
seems to have been a long time since last J glanced 
through it. 

■ ", v .\ .V . , ■ '• . $ \ 

One of my neighbor's brought me three vegetable 
pears today and I planted,them. These things must have 
some other name but I don t know that I ever heard it. 

They look in shape like a ■'large sheep-nose apple and 
are pale green and grow on a vine much like 
a gourd and I suppose they nay be of the same family. 

Perhaps they get their name from the pear because they look 
vaguley like one—turned upside down, and the egetable 
must come in through the fact that they are prepared 
something like an eggplant or squash and their pale green 
skin is a bout the.oonsidtency of an egg plant, 

One plants the whole fruit instead of the seed. Miss 
Cammie tried her hand at raising them several times but 
had poor luok. I shall be curious to See how * make 
out although I must say I,shall be astonished 
if I get any where• ~ 

•tai - »' .c . . ,!!0S <\ «1 T- 5 o.o T2. 3 J, ? 5-\8 

Father Wroble came down from Tulsa yesterday and <• 
called next door this morning just after I had-left 
the coffee cups. This afternoon, he andFatfier 
Callahan called on me for a little chat. tomorrow 
young Father Wroble takes old Father Callahan to Tulsa 
with him to be his guest for a few days. *e had such 
a gay time over a glass of wine. And so much for 

a dull report on a prosaic day and may I do better on the morrow.... 


Memorandum : 


Fair and warmer but not too much warmer. 

But apparantly the frosts "hoovering" around hers 
last night did not knock out the emerging gourds 
but the cardinals are scratching them up at a great rate 
as the tender first leaves reveal the location of nearbye 
seeds. I am oircumventing the doings of the cardinals 
by placing bamboo poles, still bearing their small branohes, 
so that the tangle of tough stuff may discourage the birds 
but not~keep out of warming rays of the sun. 

I doubt if any of the enclosures are of any 
particular interest although the one from The Bluff 
suggests an impatience on the part of the writer to get 
back to home base and it is nice to see the lady is 
being courted by her husband. As for the latter, 
under the name of Father Ragbush, seems to be in quite a gay 
frame of-Mind. 

re, * t ttii:* -iV V • 

Robina's letter sounds suburban enough but 
the clipping she enclosed was interesting, suggesting as 
it does, that the Rocket m st have a press agent, 

, o ao oB u'ciofi” ' 

t v: I knooked off a rough outline of a memo I ,may 
or may not send to Mr. Hodges within a day or two. 

I made a copy so you may be kept informed on that 
score. The article is raw enough but perhaps 
I shall let it goes as is. It seems to me the time 
is a little pre-matur.e and yet, as in the case of 
la Bberhardt bur.ning Miss ellie'a letters, one 
always, feels a little aggressive if one takes up matters 
resulting from a demise too soon and yet in the same 
breath, one too often learns to regret having dilly¬ 
dallied too long so 1{hat the idea to be proposed is lost 
out in the race against time when some other ciroums- 
stance may get ahead. I shaL 1 decide on the morrow 
what l shall do about that. 







From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #H~5889 

University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill 
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Wednesday, April 15th, 1959 


,1 can't recall if I mentioned it or not in my 
Sunday report of Sunday night's session and so will run 
the risk of repeating myself• When I had both 
the a ocket and the Lost *ord to hand at the same time, 

I though the opportunity a good one to outline the 
odges Horticultural Memorial to them and showed them 
the picture you so kindly supplied so promptly, pointing out 
that I expected to suggest that something along th.ese 
architectural lines on a reduced scale be used, M rankly, 

I was quite taken aback when the ti ooket re-acted with 
promptness : 

U v -/.cloi'.a 6 M ,0 V 

"I certainly wouldn't send the recommendation a nd 
illustration now for he might aotually go ahead and 
build the thing," 

,V) • ’ s - 1 

Perhaps she had in mind that it would be better 
to get the Macdowell enterprise well .under way 
before proposing the Memorial, Frankly, I'm not 
sure but what the Memorial would be to the greater 
benefit of society generally than the Macdowell thing, for 
there is always hopes that one good architectural feature 
might save the gardens from furthe "baptist pagodas" 
and, to my w a y of thinking and I am sure to yours, a 
garden on such magnitude without grandest a is no garden 
at all. 

For me, gardens are too sacred for selftsh interest 
to interpose. So far as financing both porjeots 
at the same time,I believe Mr. Hdg&e is quite oapable of 
tossing them both 'off with banadon, Possibly it 
would be more advantageous for me personally, were 
the Maodoweill thing to be pushed exclusively but what 
_ is personal advantageif it must operate at the expense 
of the greater goodt Nothing, in my opinion, 

- regarding the gardens is so important as giving it 
the classic permanency the Memorial would provide and 
so I shall recommend it first and regardless. 

And now I must do some mail but not before 
blessing little Miss Lee again for the likeness of the 
Memorial •••••••••• 


Memorandum • 

t 

_ _ _ j. H ™ n iee to find a Monday Lyme letter i 

mart* rV 91 ve Unole *™e's boys a ere 

o f +h th W°°uld only do half so V well wi 
of their parcel post packages, 

raised by little Miss Lee 
latest communication from that quarter is mi 

?ele?Lt,V d * a r •“?*•** teem U sol 

never nicely. In view of the intimacy t>Tin + 

her and the mother of the young person refer 

wondering if little Miss Lee mightfindit 

convenient to specify either the oiie or the 

I imoine la of Yi++V * yped °” d printed mater 

af+iil l °S, li * ile 0 »o interest to any on , 

S" 1 ? t '‘ e " *>« 9*«» a PC 




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9829 






Lea tan says that if at any time, any of the 

manuscript material should be too bulky for easy 

management, it could be San Antonio bound and 

locally housed with provision for it to pass through 

Ora's hands to !forth Carolina in case either 

Lestan or little Miss Lee should relinquish same, He 

suggests that if binding would reduce the bulk, that 

might be done a year at a time, starting with the thing 

in chronological order, advancing a year at a time query 

few months but he makes this suggestion only in oasq 

its present repository should find it to cumbersome to 

managit was so characteristically thoughhtful of iitt le Miss 

Lee to mention the Dixie Hoton issue about he hadows 

and the Horse oldier, I got one from Carmen* * 

There was one next door for which I asked, as everything 

pinted is always thrown away there and was promised same 

but as it has never come to hand, suppose 'if, too, was 

cast out. I secured Carmen's copy, thinking I might 

supply one to Lyme, should one not come to the attention 

of a resident of Lyme, ^nd thus, everyone , including 

the Rocket has one and I am delighted, especially for little 

Miss Lee bud Lestan, ‘ ‘ 

* 

On the business side ofmerchant planter doings, 
you will find this a good buy, The Rosenwald school 
on Little ti iver burned in 1951 and<was re-built by 
the Parish, a large building, adjoining kitchen, eto, 

1 Consolidation of schools takes the children 
to St, Mathews now, The Parish, to whom the 
land had been ceded returned the Little **iver property 
and, in accordance with Law, the. fine building was 
sold to the highest bidder, Perhaps there is a taoit 
understanding among property owners in such matters and 
the bids are left to the owner of the returned property, In any 
event, this edifice, worth SO to 30 thousand dollars b was 
bid in at 85 dollars by the merchant planter who is 
now tearing it down and giving it to his nbphem who is 
a bout to build himself a home in Pecane Park in town, —truly 
a bargain, I should think, 

i 

Plants are cheap at Yucca, too, At noon, while I 
was at dinner, a negro friend passed by this house to a wait my 
coming, H e thought the artist surprised when he encountered 
her going through the bamboo toward her house, heavily laden with 
plants just dug up, &he told the youth to tell me 
she done got the flowers 1 five her", I hadn t s sen her in 
days and nothing had been said about plants, *he artist 
is a bag,,,,,,,. 






60 


t 



Thursday , April 16th, 

2959 

H J \(! lit 0 1 1M' ,;it iw i . 

©Visitor ;, iv . v V-' 

£ t . o 

1 Q® 'C , Qj> Start® 

, -.0- U';'" ‘ 


=.rtt ,41; ;• Hi: *4 



- «. 

id '-,1 c rtcVtoalSuco ‘ 


J Lm< i ^ rto t. li'X ou 

• 


Memorandum 

u b as* io\ 

;Y W; 

.r if' 

$}!. : :■ J TO ©HO SO 0'»\ : 

t l • •• 

LX 


Whatan unexpected pleasure to discover another air 
mail from Lyjje in today's post, I used to think there 
were almost too mpny conferences forever in progress in Washington, 
but in the present instanoe, at Least, enabling one a second to 
catch one\ breath, I must say I favor more and more suoh pow-wows, 

t ' 

I can well imagitie what a relief it must have been when little 
Miss Lee made contact with Brown Brothers and discovered her search 
for a likeness of the monument was over, wha-t with all in ins and 
outs and ups and downs a bout the town in search of a larger 
print. The first one supplied was just perfect for the purpose 
I had in mind and from the carbon copy of the memo to 
Mr, Hodges, it was easy enough to see how fhat picture fitted 
in just perfectly with the matter to hand, I must confess, 
however, that now a larger one is in the offing, it, too, 
will serve to the greatest advantage, for I can use it as a 
"booster" within a week or two, when 1 shall send it along 
without comment to Mr, Hodges, in case I haven t heard from 
him on the subject, and in case I have, I shall send it 
along regardless as a further reminder of the memo which, by then, 
he will have already digested. 

It seems to me a pity that your assistant should be so long 
departed without any sign as yet of someone to take her place, It 
must be in the spirit of things at the moment, — that 
uncertainty as to which person is going to do what, as witness 
doings around the State Department at the moment, 

••• . ’ MUil; '• 9TJ sX'- • • -a '\S> ’ y: < 

, Of the enclosures, you will find the letter and 
note from Mrs, Moore of interest, especially in reference 
toffatohe* doings, Roane!s illness,'etc, 

««ot Hi Las-<o battrj 

In the garden section, things are growings at a great rate. 
It is.aloudy and warm qnd every day we are promised a shower which 
I want but J, H, doesn t, but I am expecting a dab 
of sprinkling before the week plays out,,,,,,, 

.T -A • " 





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9832 


9831 


t-V.?''- 


, At the present state of the horticultural nation, the 
doings of the Saord College is giving me lots of trouble . I 
attribute everything that goes wrong these days to the vast 
migrations of the birds this year and among the residue 
is a vast collection o red birds, more than I have 
ever known in the past • And every 1 cardinal seems to 
have a mania for gourd seeds with the gourds along the front 
gallery constantly swing to and fro as one or another of 
the birds alights on one to examine what lies beyond the 
hole I cut in the side of each for them to enter if they please 
And while they stick to the gourds, Ic don't mind but sinoe I ha 
h a ve been planting, the Pacrd College h s been going into 
. „ oonclave every morning and every evening, and while there is 

neither white smoke, blaok or gray to indicate how things 
are going with their meetings, there are little puffs of 
dust where they are scratching up a row that has been newly 
planted • Ihis e vening, between the time I had finished 
planting the seeds in one row and could trun to place 
a bamboo pole on the line to protect it, there- were perhaps 
50 or 75 cardinals concentrated on undoing my 
handiwork • J am so glad I have lots t 
t of seeds fpr it's almost worth the trouble to plant 

t fo np point in production if one but takes time 
out to observe the beauty of the feathered 
host in such conoent qted form • I am hanging 
A\ gourds from last yearns crop all through the 

trellises to encourage the cardinals to get acoustomed 
K . t . to the place and to provide the wrens with places 

for making their nests, so that once the seeds have germinated, 
the birds will be all about the place to take a peck at any 
worms that may turn up to attack the vines*- You 
m a yreadily imagine how pretty the color combinations 
are.go^.ig to be when the tender green of the leaves 
hpve spread roofs over the trellises, the multi- 
colpred gourds have begun suspending themselves from 
the rafters and donens of cardinals are darting about, 
etohing streaks of scarlet in and about the place • 
v " v> / , ■' . ' ■ ' 

At suppep tonight, J, U, was provoked because he had 
been arrested or rather fined in town for exceeding 
. the speed limit of 85 milts an hour which 

certainly does seems an exceedingly slow pace, es- 
... r i t J ,z c : . . >.,••• is 

pecially,f<jr,one who is so used to dashing up and down the 
_ world's road ways at 1 00 miles an hour ••••• 


Friday, April 17th, 19 59. 


ti;Q -stHioq '■‘ Vx ''f ' 

Memorandum- 

■ 

It began raining this evening, has rained about an inoh 
and continues raining while the weather bureau.promises 

Zil ■ 1 Iik * though w. have had anough but 

probably can stand all we may receive• 

- i/_■ : ;- 

I must say I must have bungled up thisweek's 
Cane “iver Memobeyond anything I should h a ve recognised, 
h a d I ever had an opportunity to run through it, once I had 

by way of confusing the readers, 

to avoid indicating the character described in the quotation, to 
avoid indicating that the biography from which the lines were 
taken was necessmily a person from the distant past, hopina 
nwny a reader would discover and vote from an I, S, , 

Willard, a Rosalyn Aswell or some such . .1 must have indulged 

in too much legerdemain for a report from The*nterprise indicates 

uot«8 began arriving today, even as my telephone 

has been ringing rather briskly, and all voters continue 

casting their ballots for Lestan with poor 

Leonardo, I. S, W,, et all getting no wet es at all . -Surely 

l ought to make it a ptsdc.tice to examine my manuscripts 

v 01 " 8 often and not just letting them slide, once I have 

kixooKqcL them off* 

- ’ s 

Mrs, Walker tiephoned this morning to say that there 
were a couple of Utah gentlemen, —Mornnons,^ spending 
a few months in town and one of them so much, hoped to 
visit this bend of the river before his duties took him 
Jack to Salt Lake • City or where ever . f suggested she 
bring these- gentlemen down this afternoon which she did • 


„ lh ° ne > on being present, said ",Howdy do” and, on leaving, sai 
hank you and oodbye • He dtdn t say anything else 
during the long hour and a half visit . Ihe other said a few 
things along the way but manifested the same Wyoming character¬ 
istics so many of the ooky Mountain people have shown when 
finding themslves far from their high peaks and down in the 
river bottoms, —curiosity of equal intensity in everything 
of ,na .importance or interest, indifference almost approaching 




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9833 




9834 


Sunday, April 19th, 1959# 


lack of xmx courtesy to what is being pointed out 
as a salient feature, One gets their number quickly and so 
expends little energy on them but, especially in this case, 
one oannot help wonderingwhat can possibly be behind the 
unotrolable desire behind their imp Ise to get into 
the place . ^ 

r \ ' ' • \ ' • • * 

. _ . ftw t j*,, e moq \ixo " •'* 

At the conclusion of our little go-round, I invited them 
to collapse in the living room where 1 tried my best to make 
conversation in which both gentlemen might participate but 
only the one of them responded, 4s is my custom, 

1 offered a glass' of wine but when a glass i for Mrs. Walk 
h a d been poured, the gentlemdn who talked 'said , he 
a nd his friend wouldn t care for anything, I assumed they 
might object to wine and so I procured a bottle of coke 
for epoh and although they permitted me to open the bottles for 
them, ]iei.ther one ever touched the bottle placed on the little 
table beside him , *Jt was with the greatest restraint on my 
part that I kept fYom bringing up a story that would involve 
the expression : »hen in Some^use “oman candles" but 

while I am glad I avoided’-anything so rude, I am now 
wondering if either of them would have got thq point any¬ 
way, ,1 think it very kind of Mrs, Walker lo have made it 
possible for one of the gentlemen to have realised his 
wish to make the front gate but I am altogether puzzled 
as to why she would bother me with suoh numb-skulls, 

John Wenk appeared at supper, He mentioned that he 
and his folks,-.— 1 known&t which ones or if all, —attended 
the Jefferson, Texas Pilgrimage last week end, He 
remarked her wore tails which seemed odd . I recall his mother 
a year or so ago mentioned wearing white satin, I cannot 
imagine young gentlemen wearing formal evening wear to 
receive in a n ante bellum affair of this sort but. 
perhaps the better Pilgrimages hre thus conducted, 

. . .. i 

loday s post was short, suggesting tomorrows may 
be long, a tendency in this area, contributing nothing 
to the ease of handling correspondence but I'm 
still thankful for yesterday which afforded, me so much 
pleasure from the direction of Lyme especialty . 


Memorandum- 


A, busy week end and a less busy week ahead, I 

hope , 

, A . „ . ')4‘ .vo : «. 

Our rain up to the moment has totaled ahoutthree 
and a half inches with the promise for more rain tonight, 
The ground needs it, the crops don't,. 

Saturday brought a flock of people from Magnolia, 
Arkansas, Some business man whom J , H, knows, living 
in Koushatta, half way between here and Shreveport, g a ve 
a big party for business associates of Magnolia this 
week end and, of course, Melrose had to be 
included in the places visited, —Melrose and 
Beuufort, I suppose there were SO or 30 

Magnolians and they were very nice, sandwiohed in betweeen 
showers onSatursday afternoon, J, H, and.Celeste attended 
a party in their honor at the Country Club Saturday 
ifight, l'm glad I didn't get hooked in on 
that go-round for it seems to have lasted well into 
Sunday morning, 

This afternoon L a is.y in the Dell dropped in, bringing 
her mama, some youth and his mama and papa and while 
they were all lovely people, there .were too many for 
one to have an opportunity to do any talking. Their 
stay was limited because they had to get back to 
Dallas tonight and Celeste brought over three of her 
girl friends to add to the general gaiety of nations • It s 
curious how she c^an't resist such visitations and usually 
they are avoided by simply not making mention that 
I am expecting guests, 

oe o.u 

Daisey and her party had been down to New Iberia 
onHaturday• They have done nothing by way of 
restauration of the Shadows as yet although Weeks is 
supposed to be transferred from the publio oemetery to 
The Shadows next week and after his burials in the 
garden, perhaps re-furbishing will begin. She said 
new floors are to be laid, to everyone 8 surprise, sinos 
the big old wide boards now forming the flooring are 
considered thoroughly sound. 






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Monday, April 80th, 1959 


interruption . 

I was quite taken aback when somebone knocked at the door, 
the taking a-back based on the fact that it w as Dan, wife, 
threechildren had never seen, some woman and her daughter, 
Last week he was speakig, Today it was all affability, I 
guess they had driven fromAlexandria vto pick up a car left 
in the local garage last week for repairs, 

, VI- 0 ■ 

How, to get b ck to Daisey in the^ell, I don't recall 
if I mentioned she said they were about to chop down and 
dig up the bamboon hedge, screening The *hadows from 
the street .. 1 his is shocking,as it was such a vital 
Part of the setting as Weeks planned and maintained it for a 
lift time, l must write a letter to u ew Orleans to 
night to see.if I can not get Jacbb U rrison to slow up the 
pilling around and hauling out of line by architects and land¬ 
scape gardeners something about which they know nothing,-* 
the spirit of The^haodws, , 

... . V • — i Si f-' ■ SL" s> «■ - ' 

After Daisey and party left, some lady from Qlenmora or 
some place or .other be^ow Alexandria came to see me a bout 
gourds, She was a.kindly person, reminding me a little of 
Miss Mah, I guess we had exchanged a letter or two and 
she was interested almosi exclusively in gourds, 

I gave her several and about a ton of seeds which seemed 
to delight her, She, on returning.to her car, produced 
several which she wanted me to have if I didn't happen f to have 

J ny of the varieties and, naturally, I told her I didn t, She 
eft very happy with all her plunder and 1 was happy because 
she was happy, a t - v 

, , > . :i•• . 3 -■' -■ '>-s . '.o 

I didn't get much by way of reading done over 
this week end and I'm even behind in my radio 


Memorandum: 


I hold the . thought there wasn t cnything of much 
inter at in the news tonight for.I heard little or 
nothing of it, thanks to boiling atmospheric conditions 
obtaining "along a line 60 miles south of Monroe, La,, 
qud 60 miles north of Meredian, Miss,"—as near as 
I could make out, ,c 


I don t understand just waht this means. If there 
is some sort of a band of storms, so many miles wide, 

I should suppose it would be logical enough to 
say so many miles north and so many miles south of some given 
, point. Were it on the Atlantic seaboard, why-should 
one say "60 miles south of Hew York and 60 miles the 
other way from Pittsburg or some such". Veil, 
be that as it may, there seems to be an uncommon amount of 
statio and a d a b of rain and lots of thunder and mighty 
meager radio reoeption, I hold .the thought next week 
i.may be better for I must want to hear Invitation of 
Learning do Presoott’s Conquest of Peru", 

. • _ ' 

There wasn t muoh mail today I must ask 
Robina what th8 low down is on Miss v omon's 
broken rib. Perhaps she has been riding to the hounds. 
Smile, . 

'v . <y.V r;.' it’ ii o»<v " < ■ ' ' ?.*> u* " ' art 

Thelma's letter seems odd enough, so muoh third person 
business, I wonder what possessed her to do a song 
and dance with the Shrinners after her bus load had left 
here, • 

And speaking of Thelma, I am reminded of the Hodges 
Gardpits dedication of pdy 1st which I must deoline to attend 

a ,.j ah' 8* . .of*-. • “ * -t at «i'„ tec;, 

oil e«4 ti av‘:10 ins eav noY artY nayi 

u4 C 998 i.aaC efcrt t'1 .(gjiihfr a rtyya ysuo o;V \J8<(or« 

bitade arts -.art HU -• ' • a a a-qooxa 


listening but perhaps I shall put my maohine out on 
the gallery fora while tonight, the moon is so pretty and I shou 
should like to try Meet the Press and Face the Ration for the 
first time out of doors thi.8 season, the »oo» is so lovely, 
the night so velvety 

i j V, aV oi miiC ’u Maod fco. HO \J86i oft 

I cannot tell you how entranced I. was with the 
arrival in Saturday's post of the grand photo of the 
monument. Whether something similar ever emerges from Hodges 
or not, 1 shall always have this one to hand to give my 
heart pleasure for its own beauty and the beauty of its source,,, 
9 8>' ;v 3 1 .ntovv: US> 0 * i": i - . ! :-i h- 9'V- aTOOi'. cm; 

ortJ us on 8bT 3' hi bio Vii'i 

.bssuos *'• ba*f abseil 


SOtTC 



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9837 



9838 


Tuesday, April Slat, 1959. 


right away, having no intention of go^ng. ^‘he clerk 
tells me there was quite a piece in the Sunday Shreveport Times 
bout a three day dedication business at the Gardens on the 
Friday,Saturday and Sunday of May 1st, 2nd and 54d and 
he mentioned water ski-ing, among other diversities mentioned. 
The lake is big enough alright for such business but odd it 
.does seem for such doings in such a garden. I guess I don t 
'have much notion.as to what forces are pushing the buttons 
a t the Gardens. 

It is an interesting commentary on the mental status 
of the local family that after yesterday's evening 8 unexpected 
visit of Dan and family, he appeared at supper tonight and 
didn t speak to me. Love and kisses one evening 
and non-recognition of one's existence on the following, I 
often wonder how much is insanity and how much mere b a d 
manners, 

I don't reoall if I mentoned last night that 
on Sunday morning Mrs. Homes telephoned me to read me 
a poem she had recently tossed off. She mentioned that 
Randy Armour .whose first name is Carrol, she said, had mentioned 
last &unday night that he had called on me in the afternoon. 

I was a little vague about the man s identity until she 
explained that he was recently returned from a trip to New York 
with Miss Mamsey, *1 hen I remembered the visitation although 
I had completely forgotten the youth's name. She said 
he had come to see her daughter who is planning to come 
to Melrose in costume this week to appear in some of the 
movies Miss a amsey is to shoot. Well, Lord, •that 
60 miles north and south of somewhere may operate in 
the matter. 

Ora just oalied to say some old lady in town has a 
wonderful diary of her mother's, —the old lady s, — 
kept from 1862 to 18 54, in u atchitoches and the Sane 
River country. Ihe Northwestern College says it has no 
money to busy such a thing. It has never been seen by anyone 
except Ora, and I think I convinced her she should dicker with 
the old lady on the morrow, —and so things turn .. 


Memorandum : 

Chilly, cloudy, dampy. 

There seems to be quite a lot of enclosure stuff 
but none of it of much interest, I fear. I was 
glad to hear from Martha Robinson and shall be glad to see 
her again when she drives up la Bullock. 

Ihe M ocket telephoned this morning aground <9j30* 

She was in town with her gentleman assistant. &he was 
planning to run down to aton Rouge this morning for. 
a conference with Essae Mae and .then on to the Crescent City 
for a cocktail party tonight with some people from the 
'national office that works with the Department of 
Welfare in the several States, —possibly called Health, 

4 Welfare and Education or some such. It seems there is talk 

of a film being made on that level 

I believe she said she was heading toward Hodges Gardens 
agan on the mo row. She has run out of soript and , 

wants to work with me to round out some sort of a story 
since it is impossible to shoot a picture without 
some sort of a script to be followed. ?rom this, 

I take it that nothing more has been done on this subject 
since our last session on that topci some weeks ago. 

She mentioned being short of money and therefore was anxious to 
get back to shooting for, 1 gather, money comes with 
the shooting. 

She said Ola Mae is working herself down, as from 
4 a.m. until 10 p.m. as of yesterday. I take it 
perhaps the u ocket, therefore, may well have been in 
Shreveport She mentioned sqme special borchure being 
brought out under Gardens auspice, using some of Carolyn's 
pictures and Ola Mae's publioatishing. In short, both girls 
appear so busy with oast affairs they have no time K 
for any business at all but as they appear to be 
having big times in spite of that, far be it from ne 
to worry about them and their methods of proceedure, so 
far beyond anytfi{ng'i'can comprehend. 


t 







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*!>•*,*> 


9839 


if 


9840 


Wednesday, April 22nd, 1 59, 


The u ocket asked me if I would spend half a day with her 
at briarwood, possibly next week, I guess she proba& y wants to 
gets some shots of >the woods and probably hopes to achieve that 
while Carrie is in North Carolina, I told her I would not spend 
half a day at Brianwood because it would be impossible for 
a iiyone to go from here to there, do any work and then get back 
within half a day • Besides, it is she who is making the film 
and frankly, L an not interested in the mechanics of such opera¬ 
tions, I think 1 could quite readily be fascinated by such 
undertakings but the harum-scarum rushing about that characterises 
heroperations would take all the interest out of it for me, I must 
admit that she has often demonstrated her a bility to turn out good 
material by just such metfwds^ and I have no doubt she will but I, 
for one, propose to be no party to such a WhirlingDervish expendi¬ 
ture o energy, 

We had so much weather last night, I never could get 
anything on the radio but a little dab, about every 5th 
word, in the discusion on Invitation to Learning, about 
Somerset Maughm's Moon and Sicpence and how much of it paralleled 
or was inspired, apparantly by the life of Gauguin • I 
must say I..never seem to find Maughm's character s sympathetic 
to my own experiences and the G a uguin doings always 
struck me as outside the limits of myown feelings and so 
the subject up for discussion, lacking appeal in the selection, 
disappointed me not at all when I couldn't wade through the 
static to unravel what was being opined, 

I can't seem to think how it was that this year 
I let the 12th come and go without so much as 
taking a single gander in the direction ef the grandaflora, 

But so it was and so it was, too, that when I finally 
stumbled over a nice big fat blossom, bigger than a dinner 
plate, I was doubly enchanted and it stands here on my desk 
tonight, vaguely suggesting a closing umbmrella, a8 
the flmwer closes for the night and nods its head 
sleepily, as it joins me insending telephathetic messages 
of Goodnight in the direction of Lyme «••••••• 


Memorandum• 

-- t -• 

Cool and cloudless with an enormous moon making 
the night a slivery day • 

^ • 

I suppose we shall be seeing more of articles similar 
to the enclosed, I still haven't figured out what is 
any over-all concept Mr, Hodges has for his fine 
gardens. It is curious how I swing back and 
forth in my impulses in that direction, not being sure 
if he vs ccapable of comprehending the virtues of 
"grandezza" in such matters • I still puzzle over 
the question i How w as i ■- so many people, many and perhaps 
>the majority of them, without any particular cultural 
developement, succeeeded in building such soul-satisfying 
houses in the ante bellum periodi And where has 
gone that impulse toward the more stately mansions and 

parks ? ' 

» 

And -speaking of such matters, I am delighted to 
say that the wash house beyond the gourd garden is 
going to have a fence around it, thus providing me with another 
unit to see what I can do by way of improving the feeling 
of this extension of the African bui’ldings, I reckon you may 
recall the little house back in the field beyond the 
place where little Miss Alberta used to paint, It is 
the house that figures in your mural of plantation wash day,— 
the house with the roof line that tends to curve upward at the 
eaves. 

The tractors have been ploughing so close to the 
corner of the house that it has almost become a traffic 
h n zzard in the cotton patch. Thanks to the recent rains, 
however, the plantation laborers haven't had anything to 
do and so I surveyed the project and suggest to 
J, H, that some of the men be givn something to do by way 
of enclosing the little house in a fine fence and he 
liked the idea and so we shall be having a fence 
for the unit and I shall begin planting a little 
garden that ought to offer quite o touch of delight in a folksie 
sort of way, and such fiddling always give me a vast zest for 
opening a new gallery or some auo|?« 













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9841 




9842 


The artiat ia atill moving forward with vast determina¬ 
tion to adquire a new car, $he ia broke but that doesn’t matter 
for it'a a car ahe wanta and a car ahe is deterinned to have, 

• She want8 a lady to teach her to drive but all the ladiea 
I know are afraid to riskktheir necks with her in such 
a project, The notion of a woman of her age, —she'3 bound to 
be pushing 80, to invest in s uch a thing is incredible, 
especially as she mainatina thyt only she ia going to drive 
it. How she will get a driver s license, I cannot imagine but 
she probably will and where she will get money to buy gas 
once the car ha3 been acquired is another puaale for 
her to solve, 

. 

I have been vastly concerned this eveni about news 
on first rater authority of doings in Houston, Several 
of the boys from this area, how living over there, are 
said to be dealing in dope, with trips being made down to Galveston 
where the source of the supply seems to be situated, Aa 
I understand it, not only are some of these boys using the 
stuff themselves but are acting as agents for the 
big dealers and have come over this way on several 
occasions of late, trying to introduce the stuff to 
local sons of the soil. And the strangest 
part a bout the wholething is the fact that, a ccording 
to my information, those most concerned with the business are 
the ones whom I have always known to be the best 
educated and the mos’t sober-minded and moat conservative, 

an writing Mr, Brew tonight, I am bound to exert every pressure 
I can to curb this matter. How much really bubbles 
behind the bamboo hedges where the recluse lives, cut off 
from file outside world with nothing to do and 
ignorant of what goes on in the outside world • Smile, 

»ai si 

In the feathered friend section, I am 
delighted so many cardinals are nesting in and about the 
Yucca gardens. Every morning at dawning, 10 
of them come to share a biscuit or two with Grandpa 
1 on the front gallery and' they are usually 

accompanied by a f ew ja§is blue jays and some 

wonderfully blue and grab colored warblers, all, of, 

them being as tame and kindly disposed toward thereat of 

God's creatures as Grandpa himself, who seems to 

take their presence at his breakfast table as a matter 

of course, tr ating them as fellow travelers 

on a road that is difficult enough without adding personal 

passes to make things more complicated, I guess that s 

what the Kremlin heeds, —ten cardinals and Grandpa .. 


Thursday, April 23rd, 19 59. 


Memorandum • 

i. no , i • ' c ■ i 

Lovely weather, 

■' ' ... o yu - '.Lyiai.’i 

Before breakfast, I strolled over to the Af ro ~chi neae pagoda 
to see about what I wanted by way of adjacent land for 
a little garden around the building, A little after 7, 

J, H, with the overseer tapped.at,my door, H, 

suggested we take a look at the building where cotton rows were 

running so close as to pass under the eaves of the edifioe. 

We walked over and J, H, seemed to relish the outing, 

I pointed out about what I had in mind. He asked me if I 

didn t want more, I told him I did but didn't 

w a nt-to' pr e-empt the potential ootton crop. He arose 

to the occasion offering me doublewhat I had expected, disdaing 

the cotton rows and turning to the Overseer, told him 

to have tractors come in to smooth.off the ground and 

fetch a crew of men , a mechanical posthole digger 

andjhe finest wire fence on the plaoe • Within minutes 

things were stirring and before day was done the place 

was enclosed in a fence far to fine for the general 

tenor of the pagoda • ^ut I kprotested not at all at this, 

for I hav$ in mind building another fence of pickets 

nearer the house and^shall thus have a double 

fence, and aq gourd vines will be planted around 

the fences, the extra fine nature of that metal 

barrier will be hidden in greenery, 

■ - K • " l 

1 1 immediately set a couple men to cutting $> 

down bushes and random shrubbery that had grown 
up almost under the eaves of the place and by late 
afternoon a flock of big epx * crepe myrtles, 10 feet high, 

had been transplanted to give watermelon coloring to the 
place and a big gob of banana plants, —4.or 5-wheel¬ 
barrow loads had been appropriately placed and 
tonight the place looks as though it had always been the 
dwelling of a contented slave with artistic floral in¬ 
clinations • o . ■.. y e v.-t" •'•j*' " ■' ' 

a-. \ jd, yjfol sals MO frn ■ e ofr v, ’ . '- 1 ' * !V 

. . ~oo t: - v.i ■ ■ - ■ r 









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9843 


Friday, April 84th, 1959 


Memorandum : 

, Such a charming note today from Lyme % I 
was not at all surprised but nevertheless delighted no end 
when I learned that little Miss Lee had won the 
prise of a year's free subscription to The 
Enterprise by having instantly identified 
the character in the Cane M iver Memo, beginning : 


I suppose that from time to time I shall do some more 
planting and after that I shall do something a bout 
the interior, possibly h a ve the artist do 

a bit o brushwork or some such, Repenting on how things turn 
with her fine automobile she hasn t yet purchased and I may even 
install some rough furniture to make the place a sort 
of hermitage And I suppose I shall plant hedges this 
autumn to begin cutting off views from at least two directions,- 
the^road beyond the pasutre and one of the sides toward 
a turn-row and, before J, H, know it, we shall be having • 
some electrioity installed in the place and so the thing 
will get under way • 

, 4\' o. • • ■ >e • . ■ > 

If only Mr, Hodges were smart enough to move 
with the speed J, H, does in settling such matters, 

Mr, Hodges mightt already have a Maodowell colony in 
operqtion, 

U\ jTsjs: . , J. 1VV •>. »>■' 

And speaking of Mr, Hodges, his letter in today's 
post speaks for itself. As already indicated in an 
earlier memo, I shall not attend the Friday dedication • 

I must decline visiting the place until he and I have 
had our day together • 

Daisy in the Dell's letter speaks for itself, I hold 
the thought that the man she spoke of, son of the physioian and 
wife in Sum ay '3 party, might be a boy friend, I hope 
this may be tune for she is a nice girl and deserves a break 
in the pattern of being.concerned with working and looking 
after a mother who is, I suspect, vaguely^on the senile side. 

The person she names as seeing her at The hadows is, of course, 
one of Weeks' old servants • 

1. ./ .. . . ... v.. : 0 -.t. nsTiitt. ?' . 

I liked the part of fames' letter having to do 
with my husband-in-law", To quote James 
directlyt —Amen • -- t 

b«ji Sac yl 0 .'.li^qoTac..j head «j»\ slit ol unt. 1 

I can see his point about the Socket, I h a ve a 
feeling the enthusiasm on the &ooket's part for the Hodges 
film has probably passed its zenith and I suspeot she 
will be mighty happy to start on something else long before 
the present undertaking is completed • And so 
turns the world and I hold the thought today s 
weather at Lyme was as lovely as the local 


Few 0 us have not known some person or persons 
so by Mature l a vishly endowed ." 

r; /> .... i ■ : 1 0&T3U'-:,An i 

which in my mind ha3 always been the perfect thumbnail 
etching of little Miss Lee herself • 

. ’.v.'J .. -XHiiTUO 9«0. j’i iJ 0 i C. 6 0C, iv’jio'.ji'IO ai \ ui 

How could my day have been anything but perfect 
with such a no e to hand, 

And speaking of Die^nterprise, Mrs. Walker 
asked me a while back where she oould obtain some 
sugar cane which she wanted to use as a hedge 
of 40 or 50 feet^to screen her yard from her neighbor's, 
i could nottell her where she could find that much 
a round here but I could suggest that if she wanted 
to use ribbon grass instead, I could supply her 
with ample planting 4 to screen not 40 feet but 40 miles. 
She accepted the offer, I dug the stuff early this 
morning and placed it in boxes by the side gate 
and she came down at 8:30, I told her she had no senseat 
all when it turned out that on her arrival, before 
contacting me, she had placed all the boxes in 
her car by herself. And then she .hurried back to town, 
what with big doings to be reported from Grand Ecore 
where,after months of use, the new bridge was dedicated 
this morning with much .politicians present, including 
the Go ernor and scads 0 lesser political lights • 

As for myself, I devoted most of my day to 
my new project which hence forth will be known as 
Ghana on the GoldCoast * Where yesterday morning nothing 
but an ancient cabin stood in the midst of trash 
and endless cotton fields, tonight the s etting suggests 










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9846 


Sunday, April 86th, 1959 


about 300 feet of gourds along two sides of the rectangle 
forming the yard and about as much ribbon grass to serve 
as a screen from the other two directions, Tonight 
by the moon the ribbon grass already suggests a glistening 
embryo barrier and although the other two sides have 
no gourds of them as yet, still I can readily envision 
them 5 or 4 weeks hence when they will be walls of green, 

0 ;.r, is,..; *•-%«:/.' Hi 

Tons of debris that had somehow gathered into 
little mounds were carted away• 

I discovered the foundations of the oldbase on which the m 
whits wash pot stood and pieced the stones together 
and hunted,up an iron wash pot and installed it 
in its original postiong at one corner of the building, 
at a b a ck corner, hard by the cistern with its gutter 
running from the eaves into the yard. 

The ground was smoothed after the trash had been 
hauled out all around the place and before sundown 
a fine garden planted, a border of si nnias for color, then six 
or eight rows of Indian corn, some 3olid red, some 
a mixture of balck and white kernels. The corn was planted 
at right anygles to the si nnia line and paralleling the 
gourd planted fence. After the corn, progressing toward the 
house, were rows of ochre, then rows of mustard, then 
onions then tomatoes and so on down to the 
final row, at right angles to the other, of 
more ainnias * The atmospheric conditions being perfect, 

I reckon the garden will begin doing business 

forthwith and so the setting will be well on the way to 

realisation, 

... 'V' >. % V» ' v ' 1 * 

The aritst, hearing ihat 1 was "m a king thep place 
look up", paid a visit. She wants to paint some 
pictures for inside, &he said she had just been 
to theRand camp, Blythe having some ladies up for 


Memorandum : 

. e 9" 

A week end of full summer weather, 

>V: v,c : : ■ iS. e 

Saturday morning I devoted most of my time to Ghana, 
for the most part examining the possibilities as to what 
best may be done with the interior of the place* 
i4s for the outside, the place seems to have undergone 
q transformation that astonishes not only my neighbors 
but me, too, "ithin 15 hours that the place should have 
been fenced in, its no account bushes dug up, 
the ground- ploughed and completely planted with some 
regard foj;order and soul satisfying arrangements .strikes me 
a8 a somewhat more speedy doings, recalling to ' 
mind the Plaisr de France gift from little Uss 
Lee, showingg le Qomte d'artoia 1 creation of 
Bagatelle within 30 days* Such a parallel is ridiculous 
of course, but my own impulse to establish order out 
of desolation does seem to cast about for comparison 
and Bagatelle is the best lean come up with even though 
there 13 no parallel and therefore it is not appropriate* 

, T seem to have done a lot of telephone comversing 
over the week end. Ora called to say she believes the 
college is going to acquire the ante bellum or 
rather the Civil. War diary and I am glad of that. Ora is 
cJ-ready formulating plans to spend June, July and August of 
next year, - 1960, - in Paris, primarily devoting 
herself to some Sorbonne leaiures and some research 
on early MatcJiit.och.es as revealed by Bibliotheque nationals 
archives, as suggested in the C a ne*iver Memo, ”Age of Anne"* 
She wanted to taljc with me because on every side in educational 
fields she has been discouraged from the Pari * trip because 
. it is felt by scholars who h a ve explored the field that she 
will get no where in phe files of the various State Departments 
in * ranee* I am so glad shea sked me what I thought 
a bout that and if 1 believed the people were right* 







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I'said I thought it might well happen that she discovered 
nothing new but, and I stressed the but, —but I didn't 
think that that was the thing of primary importance • To 
me the fact that she has the courage to make the million 
arrangements necessary for her own household to leave for three 
months was a sufficient chore in itself to warrant a 
three months absence in a place where she would have an 
opportujiity to absorb 17th and 18th centuryvalues that 
so widely controlled colonial policy and that if she could 
have three months to absorb such a thing, the trip would 
be of incalculable value and that whether she discovered any 
new documents was entirely beside the point . She said 
she d needed some such words of encouragement and I 
a m delighted she got them • I certainly hope she has a 
glorious summer a year hence and I* believe she will. 

I, S.Willard called twice o ?orthe first time in her 
life, she had been to Hodges Gardens . Xs I had anticipated, 3he 
thought I was K so right in deploring the gbsence of "grandezaa "• 
She agreed whole heartedly with me that while it is wonderful 
any man of such wealth as Hr, Hodges should have undertaken 
gaydan rather than a racing stable, still it is depressing 
that the effect should have ended with the impulse and 
that in spite of the enormous expenditures, such as the 
ultra modernistic mansion on the island, etc., etc., 
that nothingf "grandezsa" had entered into the project . 

Somehow, in contemplating this fact, I keep thinking of 
the latter part of Gone With the *ind when Mr. and Mrs. 

Rhett Suti e r get ready to build a new mansion in Atlanta, 
and hq suggests something classic and Scarlett says she 
doesn t want any of that t a cky old stuff but must have 
a gingerbread Gothio mansion. 

- t - » ■ ‘ 

Friday night's frolic in BatonRouge brought forth two 
slightly different opinions. J. H. remarked that 
"its was just a bunch of women talking" while Celeste 
said it was perfectly darling. They went to see the 

S. G.Hnerys, Jr., where they found them in their 

yard where every blade of grass was kept just as trim and 
neat as one could imagine, —a crack at me for maintinining 
so poorly such a vast expanse of gardening. And then at 
The village, a tavern on the Hew Orleans highway, there 
were cocktails or highballs as one pleased and wine 
at supper, etc., etc. Sarah Jones asked especially about my 
good health. Perhaps Essae H a e did, too, but 
nothing was reported on that score. &mile* and thus runeth 
the week end........ 


Honday, ^pril 27th, 2959. 


Memorandum : 

• Sumyier-ish with high winds from the south 

* to dry up more moisture that-one w ants tobe rid 
ofat the moment, especially more than the planters 
want to s ee evaporate, now that re-planting is 
in full swing . 

I devoted much time to Ghana biit an inspection 
of the roof a little more carefully suggests it will 
have to be re-covered before mucty cdn be done 
inside the place • I shall go on with the cultivation of the 
gardenf the planting of approaches and the planning for 
the interior so that when a roof with new shingles comes 
into being later in the season, it will be a matter 
of 1,2,3 in riggin up the interior arrangements • 

C S ' " - f. t' •' “ I, * 3 * S. ' • 1 ,J 

The in-ooming post, e special ly from Shreveport 
^ and Hew Orleans, appears to be on the gay side. I 

thought Robina's interpretation of the rib business quite 
illuminating. As for the early morning 
call James received, I am quite as much‘in the dark 
- a bout it as he, , 

• Political matters on the State level begin to buss with 

increased vigor as the Governor continues giving 
the impression he is going to try to run for 
re-election even though the Law says no Governor can . If 
<he is able to control the State Supreme Court, with a 
favorable decision to the effect that if the & ouer»or 
resigns prior to the expiration of his term, then he 
» is justified in spending that interim &f a few weeks in 

getting himself re-elected, then he will undoubtedly 
run and win what wiih the hilly billy strength 
which is always his in vast reservoirs of ballot 
power • 

. : Si 3'.S 01S> U •' Ml • • ' 

\j£>& 'A sV,_.:o»\4 sijujos slioil 

SB Otic ' i* to\ 610' V X i ■' ttA -•■$1.0 He 

iii tnM -si ise-« ho ertoofc 'i A ce 






s 1 '.' 


I 


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9849 



9850 



Muring the past couple of days, it has been 
interesting to note the Louisiana purveying of news con¬ 
cerning the Max — Poplarville apparant lynching 
although the body ha3n t as yet been discovered . 

The newspapers, such a8 the Shreveport ‘limes, which 

have applauded the Citizens Council doings is giving 

the slightest amount of coverage to this latest 

Mississippi outrage while other papers are 

giving it some of the attention it deserves. I 

was extremely interested tonight to hear an extended 

editorial delivered over the air by the Mew Orleans station, 

W. D. S. U., which took the trouble to say that 

the editorial it presented to the listening public 

represented the views of tile station, —in sharp 

contrast to so many raido programs which the 

managers usually go to 3uch length to explan that the views 

expressed are not necessarily their own but merely 

those of the speaker, and WDSU in the strongest terms 

scremad against the political status of a State 

wherein such an outrageous thing as the Parker disgrace 

could even happen, —the removal of a priosner 

from a jail by a mob, I haven no doubt the 

F.B.I machinery is in full gear trying to 

solve this matter and determine the identity of 

the participants and I'm sure we shall hear a great 

deal more q bout his in the weeks and months ahead. 

i <■ > j;r,. *t. ; .T ■. 4' eo i; • 


I was vastly disappointed tonight when, after ioking forwa 
' ward with such keen anticipation to hearing Invitation do 
(to) Learning go into Prescott's Conquest of 
Peru, a substitution for Rase&lqs was made instead. I 
must write the station asking them to cast about 
and bring forth the Prescott matter for I should 
so much like to hear that one. 

Emmet and Erwin are eyeing me through the screen dovr 
and making funny little sounds as though to say that 
an extra biscuit before folding up would please them, and 
so I shall fold the ducks and then myself and that is that.,,. 


Tuesday, April 88th, 1959, 


• • 


i w 'J -i i)V. ?, fi i> S> 3 '14 3 Aj O O £ 

. ij.vj j •-> m o 9«\s 
is j s.; i - «•;>;« 

s&oitfr \0 •% or.» t -i ‘ 

Memorandum*. 

• 

Pure summer. 


lltu 1,1.' ! 

OX -is/'. O', i 
'. TO Ulli-'i' 

« ^ >T ',.4. <\ 




bW 3 


And it sounds as though things mightbe 
getting warm in Washington and Mew Tork in political 
quarters, I suppose one of the most inept 
comparisons of the season was made when the 
Illinois Senator tried to defend Mfs. Luce by asking 
the Democrats why they kept beating an old bag 
of bones, for surely that Illinois gentlenai was 
not thinking of Mrs. Luce. 


And then, as soon as she had learned the Senate 
had'confirmed her appointment, Mrs. Luce 
certainly issued as undiplomatic a statement 
as any Ambassador ever did when she remarked that 
her differences with Senator Morse were of 
long standing, dating from the time the Senator 
got kicked in the head by ahorse. Surely, to 
imply the Senator who is chairman of the committtee 
having much to do with her office, was the 
height of folly. My only explanation 
of such dairyings on is by attributing the 
whole business to the weather. 


I found a n air of uncertainty bordering 
on distress across the fence while exploring the 
coffee cups this morning. Celeste had reoeived 
an invitation to go to Mew Iberia for some parties 
on the wee*k end of a week hence, something like 
fromFriday through Sunday, being something like the 
8 through the 10th. She hasn't been invited 
to a party in Mewlberia in almost two years, she e xplained 

aoi'.ie i. Veil 1 knit Of: : i.v cs 

..C-\ i <\Z \0 . 1 •• ‘ ' '• 


f 


1 


I 







From the 


Francois Mignon Papers, >M-3889 


In the Southern Historical Collection, 
FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 


University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 




9851 



9852 


• i 1 

and would pearly love to go but it seems Hay 10th 
is Mother 8 Day and unless she can either get 
mother down to her ctm other daughters in 
South Louisiana or get one or another of those 
daughters up here, it will be just 
impossible and so unkind of Fate* Mother thought 
she shouldn t be the cause of her daughter s un¬ 
happiness and I gasped a* such'a rigamarole and 
put in my two cents worth by saying that I thought 
nothing should discourage the lady from realising 
such a pleasure as Hew Iberia promises after all 
these years After all, it is infrequent that 
Madam Regard, J* H* and I are alone for Sunday but 
when we a re we usually have a gay time togeher and 
since that is so for us and since it is equally true 
nobody is so happy as Celeste when heading out for 
a party 4 it seems ridtculoud to me that everyone 
shouldn t get a maximum of pleasure out of the 
week end, —Mother's Day or no Mother's Day* 

* ’ * 

‘Ihe mail wasn't much today but I must say I 
was mildly shocked-at the copy of the advertisement 
that will appear in Thursday Enterprise concerning 
the dedication of the Hodges Gardenia * Beauty con- - 

testents, water ski-ing and Heaven knows what all, — 
so that even a roller coaster seems logical enough as 
the next step in lieu of "the glory that was 
Greece and the grandeur that wad Rome"* 

I suppose the ideas outlined in the advertisement 
must be something •cooked up by Charlie 
Phillips who obviously has as much understanding 
of the gardens as a rooster has of the use of a sock** 
Poor Mr. Hodges with all that money and poverty- 
stricken in the field of comprehending or even 
sensing what "grandezaa" is all about* 

* . 

And now I mus,t get busy and write a 
column* 1 shall not have to 'roll up my 

sleeves for that job tonight for it is already 
so warm at 9:30 that I have los$ since 
divested myself of a shirt ******** 


Wednesday, April 89th, 1959* 


i - r • 


Memorandum: t t 

Full summer 

. j f .* • . _ r .. 1 \ , 

Thanks to a heavy dampening dew, gourd plants by the 
hundreds looked pert enough and the red and the 
black and white corn planted a few days^back jumped up 
appreciably during the night and is now six inches 
tall and obviously thriving* 

* *, o • < y. • •).. -o . - c-. •< »’■ 

J* H . is obviously having to cast about for prospective 
hoe hands, —not for hoe hands but employment for prospective 
hoe hands and so he is sending me more of them than I want 
but opes'I never send b^ck since I should.always 
prefer having g.feip.tQO many than a few too few ...... 

Along with three or four other youths and men on 
Monday he sent me a youth of about 17 or 18 and 
has continued the services of this individual on the succeeding 
days* I always turn these new comers over to older 
hands, accustomed to gardening duties, thinking it is 
easier on t new-comers to learn their waysabout through 
the guidance of men with whom they have worked in the field 
for often the new ones are unknown to me on the one hand 
and the gardens are unknown to them* 

Murphy told me the new youth’s name is Red* He is 
said to be the 3on of Hick and Mary La B a ume, Hick having 
left his family a few years back and taken himself to 
California to live* Mary has subsequently had about one 
child a year and the ones by Hick are now in this 18 to 20 
year age braoket or thereabouts • 

* o - ", ■ \0-" it*. . r. : - • hi oi :•<.! Oil 

Well, Red got along alright, it seemed, pushing a wheel barrow 
and pitching trash with a fork, digging ditch and so on* 

0 i> i'.-tM-v. om ofr £«*iwofr*tafr«a er-ta k i. 

Tonight at supper, J * H* asked /$e how that 
g\rl he t ^ad sent me was doing* I didn't know of whom 
he spoke* He said he was talking about Ida Red La B a ume * 


\ 




I 





Francois Mignon Papers, #M-3889 


After supper, I ashed the cook if 8 he had over-heard 
any of the table talk. She laughed and said she had. S/ie 
soid that Ida Red had always worn ladies clothes until a 
couple of years ago, after which 3he reverted to men s 
clothes and has been working with the other men in the 
field ever since. The cook asked me if I knew one of 
fda Red's sisters named, —of all things, — 

Essae Mae. I didn't. It 3 eems that Essae Mae wore 

ladies clothes, too, until she was a bout 17 or 18 and then 

she became a man and now does the heaviest physical labor and 

among other things, shaves the way any man does. .43 

for Red, he is still the teen age youth and beardless, I beli 

with none of the attributes suggesting his former status 

of a young lady, no breasts, short cropped hair 

and so on. Some how, the whole business reminded me 

of that old theatrical gag s 

• *1 ' > ' 

"Are you married or are you single or what are you ?" 


Thursdcy 


Memorandum: ‘ v 

• 

Hot summer is upon us, the gourds relishing it 
and starting to put out tendrills to climb while the 
tomato plan 1.8 are wilting from the heat and some of them passing 
out. 

Ihelzia l 'phoned me this morning at John's request, 
asking me if they couldn't come and pick me up in 
the morning to journey to Hodges., but I continued to 
dedine. 

c; '.i , • ? v■ > 1 • 

Thelma 3 aid the landscape artist, Wilson, is 
journeying up from Hew Orleans on Friday and will spend Saturday 
in Natchitoches, doings sketches to be submitted 
subsequently to the City Fathers, with a view to harmonizing the 
general aspect of FrontStreet and providing a blue print 
of conformity for property owners giving on Cane u iver 
in town whenever they contemplate tearing dow b tidings, 
altering them or building new ones. it's high time 
the place had some sort of a zoning law for such alterations 
in the future. Thelma asked if she could bring Mr. Wilson 
down to talk with me. She could 

I'm doing much weeping in one eye tonight, having 
stuck a twig of,, bamboo in my right optic this 
afternoon • It isn't very painful but I must* say 
the tears are a nuisance ■••• t 

• i t - 

I was enjoying the E. Roscoe Murrow presentation of The 
Educated Woman tonight but when the program was about half 
through, Mrs.Walker^telephoned to ask me 
about a point or two in my column for next week and so I 
missed the balanae of the program which I regret for it sounded 
mighty interesting as far as the thing had gone. 

I hold the thought that circumstances were more auspicious 
in Lyme • 


andwert 1 

"OR R R R R .. .I'm not married any more, I'm not 

married . .it takes up too much time ." 

37 i« wonderful thing about living behind the bamboo is that 
one is so ignorant of the outside world, never going places, 
never meeting people, never getting acquainted with unusual 
types. How I might broaden my education if 
I might only join my neighbor across the fence and try to 
move is social circles ai least 8 or 3 times a day. 

Too of the pecane experts were here for the day and they 
surveyed the major pecane groves and reported there will 
be a small crop this year, —something less th a n h a lf a million 
pounds, I believe they said. 

There didn't seem to be much mail today and even 
less by way of a secretariat. I could have secured 
the services of at least two but telephone calls 


and other demands on time impelled me to let the , 

correspondence go and do the whole business when tomorrow s 
post arrives. t » -'■ 4 

It was entertaining to hear Eric Savereid tonight do 
"the old bag of bones", the whole *bro>.adca 8 t being turned with 
the greatest dexterity and hilarity, it seemed to me....... 








Francois MlGNON Papers# #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection 
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. Tfris morning wliile awaiting the arrival of the postman 
at the post office, I chatted for a few moments with the 
merchant planter and the artist as the post rider was 
heading this way from the bridge. I remarked upon 
the quai ntness of the little low bench, perhaps 6 or 8 feet 
in length, that had appeared on the gallery of the store 
the day before. J. H. 3aid it had come from one of the 
ancient schools in the region, long since vanished and 
that as a child, he had parked oh it for many a long 
session • I said I liked its unique lowness and then 
the postman arrived. Ihip noon, when the plantation bell 
summoned the field hands, two of them appeared on 
my gallery, touting the little bench, a sking me where 
I wanted it placed. I directed them to Ghana and 
later in the afternoon, L went yonder to see where they 
had placed it and they had been so right, - slap 
in front of the fireplace where it fits jU3t perfectly. 

I offered my tickets to the Friday Hodges doings 
to the ladyacro3S the fence and shems glad to 
accept same but then something more promising must have 
developed and so she returned them with regret. She 
seems to be having an unhappy time with her servants 
and is still distracted ^bout getting away for 
the flew Iberia frolic a week hence, I believe 

Silecne remains profound from the Socket-Lost 
Word direction. I suppose the balance of thist/eek will 
probably see those ladies concentrating pretty heavily on 
the festivities at the Gardens . Vaguely I seem to remember that bolt 
Rocket and some lady in town mentioned that movies were to 
be made at Melrose during this past week. Long ago, 
however, I learned to pay no attention to statements concern- 
ing a ny agenda, outlined for an hour, day, week or year in 
advance. 1 wrote the lost Word 20 days back 
about something or other, -»-J have already forgotten 
what, but, of course, never had a response. I am told 


Memorandum : 


How nice to find a'dandy letter of Wednesday 
from Lyme in today's post. 

Something tells me I have been mis¬ 
dating my communications of late, not as to day 
but as to date. 


It's so nice catching the glimpse provided in 


little Miss Lee's letter of the arrival of Spring 
in the park and to experience again through that 
medium the parade of Chinese magnolias, etc., which 
has already ended here but is just getting into 
its full stride in Lyme. 

I am to be the happy recipient of some good 
secretarial assistance tomorrolb' horning and so I am 
saying-the'clippings until then, knowing full well I 
shall relish them all. The Ghana business 
will naturally be especially interesting under present 
local concern with that name. I so bften think of Trianon 
on my way to Ghana these mornings for although the 
scale of distance has no comparison with the original, 
still the removal from one pivotal point to another 
polar center is sufficient to suggest the parallel. 

I an holding the thought that you may have had the 
good luck which l did not have, —a chance to hear 
about Prescott's Invitation to Learning Something 
about the c onquest of Peru • I am still so provoked that this par 
ticular subject matter failed to come through the ehter 
waves and doubly so since the atmospheric conditions 
were perfect for its reception and the substitution 
thing on the ssme program was so deafly set forth 
on a topic about which I cared nothing. 

I can well imagine your enthusiasm about remaining 
up so late to see the film you mentioned. les, I did 
see the film and' I seem to remember Tyrone Power 
more clearly than any of the other actors participating 
in that version of that remarkably dramdtic career m 9 







Francois Mignon Papers, #H-5889 


Sunday, May 3rd, 1959 


Memorandum 


r —’ vkurmj. extra warm* 

iTr 2 ?id ai t°^ h the 

got^a drop although to the 

Vwithit at l on i vi J w and Senderaon 
l within a short time which 

t e verything in that area. 

' s acquaintances seem to have taken 

antnn*/ 100 ** 0 ^ y° un 9 s-bera barged 
ss f en7unh + *!*** “"announced. Some 
n kn*~i 9h *° ™ vad *'* private home 


We arepromi8ed the chahce of a widely scattered shower" 
for Saturday night, —J hope. 

Carmen telephoned me at 4 this afternoon. s he 
wanted to report on the doings at' ffodges. She said John’s speech 
was splendid and the whole dedication doings inspiring 
under most pleasant weather conditions. She said she 
saw theRocket with a crew of camera men and while the 
latter were graining their movie cameras according 
to theRocket s direction, theRocket herself took time out 
to shoot a couple qf pictures farm for some 
press men who didn tseeh to be having luck getting 
pictures for their papers, with theRocket remarking 
laughingly i --"...just as though I weren t already 


G IV baok tfl * a afternoon 
mZl f gentlemen with them, appaj 

in sports clothes 
, d 3hoes • Informal, I must sal 

At 5 o’clock, to my unbelief , the'- 
■iemeji appeared, thus constituting 
irbe as a Hell of a nerve. 9 

iiol ear l ie - r *2 the afternoon, I w 

and Gordnn 9ai4 hia siater > B-Rand 
and, Gordon, was at the spillway o 

er a 9 diH l h aHd / Uink he would 

iniJ Lit not feel unstrained to 


Mrs. Walker ’phoned me this morning a bout a couple 
of manufscript lines whiqh had run off the bottom of 
the pages. She said QLa Mae had called her one night this 
week and sounded as though she were passing out from exhaustion. 

On the Washington scene, the regisgnation of the Ambassador 
to Brasil came os a surprise. 1 think Senator Morse 
was so Wrong in telehponing the psychiatrist whom it was 
thought might have rendered professional service to la Luce but 
even so, while I am shocked by such doings, it doewn’t seem nea. 
nearly so shocking as la Luce’s statement that F. D. R. 
lied us in to war, a statement she desoiribe3 as " intemperate 
and which I think is outrageous.......... 







From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #H~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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friar. 


9859 


iiw: 


9860 


Monday, May 4th, 1959• 


Last night was ao humid, the air was almost 
like velvet, About 9 o'clock three of my friends 
came to pick me up in their car to drive me to 
the home across the river, up near Madame Aubin- 
Rocque's, where they were waking Robert Turner , 
he road was lined on both side for a mile or two with 
*cars. My guess is that perhaps 500 or more 
o our friends were there, Two of my friends, one 
on either side, assisted me up the steps and 
guided me through three rooms of the house, In the 
first and larger room, charts were purrounding three sides 
eachf occupied by some relative of secondary degree, I 
imagine, and the coffin occupied the 4th side. 

It was open, Robert looked as peaceful as 

any youth in his 20's, just resting his eyes for a little, 

The coffin, I believe, was upholstered in pale 

yellow sa^in. The thinest veil of pale purple was 

spread over the opening of the coffin, designed to ward 

off mosquito and.fly marauders at this season of the year, I 

suppose. 

My friends guided jne to the next room, jammed full 
of people,--all ai ladies and all sitting, except one, 
who was Edna, wife of Robert, Edna being the wife of my old 
friend, Elam bivown, brother of.Millie andCarlton Brown, 

After chatting with )}er for a few minutes, I was escorted 
on to a third room, more remote, where there were also ladies 
jammed in together, and each seated. It must have been 
stiffling, Ther& I was presented to *obett's mother whom I 
had visited several years ago when ’■shewas enlisting my 
services to get into Welfare or Old A ge assistance, She 
held her little grandson, Robert s boy, on her lap, 
a child of a year or so, 

Then 1 said goodbye and was escorted back through the other 
two rooms and out of doors where on the gallery and billowing 
over into the yarcl were scores if not hundreds of black men and 
iboys, many of whom greeted me before I re-entered 
my conveyance and was brought baok home, 

. , 

Charlie T U7mqr, t Robert's brother, wasn t there during 
my visit. He came to see me •this noon to trtank me 
• for h a ving attended the wake and to say how much the 
flowers from Melrose had meant, "both to Robert and me and all of 
us", ■‘■he red roses, white and I must say gigantio magnolias 
<R»d the magenta Joob's Ladder, weemed perfect for the occasion. 
And that was the week end,,,,,,,. 


Memorandum : 

Hot-hot and only one or two big old snowy bolls ojj cotton 
like clouds against the deep blue of Heaven from dawn 'til dusk, 
indicating clearly enough that all the water being shed across 
the landscape to the North of us is never going to reach this 
area of bone dry soil, t 

All day scads of laborers have been taking down the 
somewhat decrepit fence around the gardens and preparing to install 
another, running from J, H,'3 house slap b a ck along 
the we31 bamboo hedge to join the north bamboo hedge at the 
end of the back of the white garden behind* Yucca and so around 
across the cotton patch eastward until coming to the 
Ghana line. It appears to be quite a fine fence and one 
that has long been needed, I mitjht add it gives me a 
lot of extra space beyond little Miss Alberta' s house 
for bigger if not better trellises for more and more 
gourds, <. 

I wps preparing some gourd seeds for additional planting 
qbout 1 o'clopk this noon when the Rocket appeared,— 
unannounced. She had picked up some food along the way,— 
strawberries and what not and, thanks to some milk and 
what not from the Yucca ice box, she had quite a fine 
' lunch and we talked as we sat on the sofa wh le she 
dined. 

She was heading for Hew Orleans, expecting to return 
along a bout Thursday, She says she is dreadfully short of 
money and hopes to get the Library film going forthwith 
for she expects to take the larger apartment in the 
Pontalba on $he St, Anne Street si e, about 5 11, I believe, 
which must be not ioo far from James at 543 or whatever his number 
may bq, The rooms are so huge, she is going to buy some 4 poster 
beds, amx armoirs, etc,, eto, which sounds so odd, hard on 
the heels of the money shortage but I ignored both statements, 
naturally, since I never understand such contradictions. 








From the FRANCOIS HiGNON Papers# #M-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 






9861 


or perhaps both, —I thought she 3aid for Ola Mae* I had 
suggested note paper of that neighborhood to Ola Mae some time 
back • Perhaps that is what is cooking, 

■r She had difficulty making her fleur de lys picture, 
and^asked her if she had ever thoughfof contacting whatever 
company now controls the old Ufa films, remembering ho* 
tsowderfully they used to do flowers opening, She hadn't 
thought of the idea, As I recall, Ufa was merged 
with some other companies, about the time of the war, 

I'm wondering if yo w chance to know what company 
absorbed Ufal I suppose she might - write to whatever company 
now controls those old films so she could inquire about 
buying a certain amount of foot a ge, preferably of a 
fleuj-de-lys , 

If you don't chance to know under what name Ufa now 
operates, perhaps she could write to some such place as 
the Botanical Gardens in some major city, such as Brooklyn and 
inquire through such an institution if they have films 
of this nature, showing flowers opening and closing. 

She mentioned an idea she had, I believe, taken up 
with Mr, Hodges, which I think excellent, —the building 



to visitors at the gardens, I suggested this be housed 
in conjuction with the. museum I have in mind to suggest, —the 
hall for exhbiting special one man shows part of the 
year and at certain seasons, the work of the artists participating 
in the Hodges-Macdowell foundation which I want to take up with 
Mr, Hodges in greater detail, 7“ do not envision a Museum of 
Modern Art or whatever that place.on 53rd Street is called, but 
something along different lines but more or less of a 
like nature, the movie section to stre«8 flowers, cultural 
subjects, such as t ante bellum homes, et ., and the adjacent 
exhbttion halls carrying picture and statu\es that are 
not permanent exhibits but merely items for sale, 

t i t J «* * K 

I don t recall if I mentioned that having partaken 
. of food, the docket took to the big road again and wat 
heading toward theCrescent City withinhalf an hour for 
the time of her arrival, I believe• 

So things turn and so I must get on with some t 
work before sampling the air waves to find out what s cooking 



9862 

| 

uesday. May 5th, 1959, 

. 

4 l " a .j Vi* . ^ 4 »*' 

ii i 

Memorandum : 


Cry, dry and hot, hot. The Shreveport radio keeps 
talking about rain, hoping there be none, what with all the 
surrounding territory'has been having while I, on the 
contrary, steadfastly hold the thought the Ghana new planting 
may get at least a full inch, 

i 

. I shall remember today whenever in the future I find myself 

/ contemplating Melrose in retrospeot for today fragements of 
/ the vegetable gardens, eliminated for cotton fields the year 

after Miss Cammie s death, have been brought back into the confines 
of the original 'gardens and so expanded as to be in excess of any¬ 
thing that flourished during Miss Gammie's time, 

% 

A little before 7 this morning when a crew of fence builders 
were busy with their operations, J, H, came to me and 
asked what I thought about extending the lines of the gardens so aL 1 i 
former space occupied by the vegetable gardens and on beyond, taking 
in the new &hana project, might come within the 
realm of the new fenoing, Naturally I approved. 


In a trice, J, H., was at his best among overseers and laborers, 
issuing orders and gesticulating with restraint, countsr-manding 
the fence project then half completed, and the whole domaine brought w 
■the new barriers,. This meant that all the 
space between Dr, Miller's cabin and &hana would 
become a single unit, just about four times theGdiana project 
which had already been fenced and planted . 


• 

This presented about the same problem for me as might 
confront a sculptor, given a projecting piece of marble 
of which a composition might be made, the sculptor 
discovering after the, fragment had been completed in outline, 
suddenly found himself possessed of the entire block of marble $ 
four times larger that the firslr segemtnallotted and, withal, ex¬ 
pected to bring .the whole-tfring into harmony with the original 
• and much smaller fragement. 





1 


From Che FRANCOIS HiGNON Papers, M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 





9863 


Memorandum 


in place of the fancy wife fence, thus providing the gourds with 
something to tun on, although I shall, of course, pull 
out the whole business next year so that the entire 
composition may effect greater harmony with the rest of 
the expanded lay-out. 

-Because of the advanced stage of vegetation, the 
problem involved might be compared to that of 
a host expeting one guest for. luncheon, the 
roast half baked, the vegetables half cooked the greenery of 
the salade procured, the jello for two half jelled when, Lol 
instead of one, four people put in an unexpected appearance 
and it 3 too late to invade a delicatessen or a grocery store • One 
does what one can bu,t fpels that on the next go-round, 
the minds of those planning the invasion may be made up sufficiently 
in advance to give the host a chance to do better than some 
legerdemain at makeshift • - 

Healixing my day would be a full one, I took my out-going 
m c il to the Post Office earlier than* usual which,as it 
turned out, was just aswell, since the post rider, finding the 
trucks or t rains or whatever bringing the mail was late, made 
his rounds an hour earlier than usual,•picking up stuff but 
bringing nothing 

' !i*»r . ' . ti T. . t 

At lo minutes before 12, some very ni-ght people to whom I 
was not very nice appeared • One of the younger ladies said she 
lived in Alexandria, was a friend of Father Wroble, and had brought 
some relatives fromWisoonsin to tour Melrose on the 
recommendation of Mrs . Patty Pierson of Alexandria 
who told her we would be delighted. I asked her if she had already 
been to Magnolia or was planning to visit that plantation after 
leaving here. *S/»e seemed surprised and said they hadn t been told 
about Magnolia by Miss Patty, —a sister of Miss i Sally. Well, 

I took a page from Miss Patty, and told th6 guests I was positive 
Magnolia would be entraced to see them, especially at 
this hour •••••••••• 


Pest of all, I love the steamboat itself and the message 
in carried from the true hand of little Miss Lee What more precious 
thing is to be found jn this world than something that 
brings joy to the heart and peace to the soul? 

• 

The weather is so warm tonight, the Thomas Jefferson 
Monticello standard is sitting right along beside my thpewriter, 
and on it is resting a glass of iced lender Leaf and I pause 
every few moments, both from thirst and from delight that comes 
my way when I left the glass and note the silvery design of the metalj 
leaf on which the glass has been resting • It is so 
rare that something utilitarian is fashioned so 
that it becomes a delight to the eye when looked at 
and a pleasure to the hand when touched • Somehow it reoalls 
a lot of advertising I have heard lately about the new air oonditionit 
units which provide cool air in the summer and warm air in the 
winter and all from the same machine, for in this 
Jofferson special it is going to provide such 
pleasant and useful compansionship all during the 
long hot evenings ahead and then, after autumn has 
arrived and a pot of hot tea is in order, it will be serving 










From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9865 




9866 


Thursday, May 7th, 1959, 


It'8 going to be so much fun tonight after the 
desk work has been put aside and I have plunged through 
a hot, relaxing bath, — just to collapse in my armchair 
within easy reach of the reading machine, setting the machine 
going and letting my thoughts be winged away toward Lyme 
on the musical magic carpet coming to hand in 
such lavishness by today's steamboat * Hovs lucky are Arenboug 
and Lestan and how much they anticipate the impending week¬ 
end whenall the new tresors may be absorbed and made use of over 
and over again* 

• v. ' 

The day has been so full, the night will seem doubly pleasant 
in the relaxation the pleasure the steamboat 
provided. There seemed to be quite a lot of mail but 
I know not whence any of it came, — a two day's batch, 
none of which I have opened since the steamboat fiabkage itself was all 
I wanted for thi3 evening. 

This morning the fine fence which had been 
built across the front of Ghana was taken up and swung 
around to get the greater enclosure properly barricaded* 4s I 
had planted gourds along this orignal metal fence and a s they 
were already above ground, it seemed a great pity to deny them 
a chance to survive and so I got busy and built a new fence 
of bamboo right where the metal fence had 

stood* I kept, this down to four feet in height and left plenty of 
twigs and branches on the bamboo poles running horizontally between 
the vertical poles occupying the more sturdy supports of 
yesterday's metals fence* But to soften 

the straight line where the metal fence had stood, I curved the 

fence of bamboo at the extreme ends so that while this bamboo 

b a rriere now runns more or less straight in front of Ghana, 

the ends of the fence are sufficiently curved as to give 

the thing a pleasant and informal touch and the impression of 

much more space . As t for the great garden stretching bet. een 

Ghana and Dr. Miller s hedge, now incopvrated in the Ghana 

section, I planted, far flung, some Indian corner, mustard and other i 

tables and in the more remote corners, farthest from 

Ghana and nearest Dr. Miller's, I wafted big 

ciroles of giant cannas, some red, some 

yellow, and so on and so forth, trying to give the s emblance 
of a garden to a epaoe too late to do any real planting* 

Blythe came in the midst of doings, bringing Joan frats with her 
I think she liked the doings and threatens to bring me many seeds. 


Memorandum : 

Such a lovely night was the one last past and what 
a pleasant one I contemplate just ahead, thanks to the 
arrival of iye3terday's steamboat at the Arenbourg 
bend. 

•• n r\ 003 oivi’il s> 

And then today the steamboatpaused again, bringing 
a grand map, the like of which I had never seen before, 
showing with dates the various territories that when 
joined tpgether,, make up the United States* I am 
delighted with it and shall find it &o helpful on so 
many occasions* t ^ 

•. t. * 

4s for the photo of la Cite, I find it excellent 
and the clearest I have ever bumped into. I con make 
out the buildings so readily and Notre Dame cp pears 
a s dominant as when viewed from street level. I think it 
one of the finest pieces in my collection of lie de France 
tresors* 

*f uf «'| w i . ‘.V it « »J■ . 0 ‘{ill ^» . 

All in all, today, through until bed time, 
appears it is going to follow . remarkably on the heels 
of yesterday's pattern To begin with, 1 should 
remark that last night, after the day's chores were 
done, I did, indeed, relax and enjoy to the fullest 
all the grand recordings just arrived* And then, after 
a fairly brief rest, I began today with the same commotion 
that, among other things, inoluded the arrival of carpenters 
who rippe'd off all the old shingles on Gahana with 
a view to putting new ones on tomorrow* I have so long 
been holding the thought that it might rain that 
perhaps, now that Ghana is denuded, of all covering, the 
delpge will descend tonight, even as it^looks a s though 
it might. The mud between the logs will be washed 
away if this happens but I can't get nervous over that 
since K new "cats" can be prepared and the holes 
between the logs ohinked in by mixing Spanish moss with 
mud as soon as a covering.is over head to proteot the applications 





From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


9867 


Mm 


9868 


Friday, M,ay 8th, 1959. 


I got a flock of oannaa transplanted and they may 
survive although the sun was pretty bright and the 
plants a little too far advanced for ideal transplanting, 

Along about 2 o'clock, I dashed into the house to 
find a dry shirt, just as Carmen was <telephoning me to 
say that the State Borad of Educatioi had sustained 
John Kyser in his dismissal of Dri, Evans, Someone t apped 
at the door, I disconnected Carmen and responded to find,— 
of all people, —Blythe, —for the> second day in a row • 

She had Dr. Rand's niece, Marjorie, and husband, and some 
gifts in the nature of plants to be set out, mostly tomato of 
special variety, not to mention one of thos huge oval 
baskets such as are used in Mexico to toat baked bread, It 
will, look so plump when the new gourd crop gets a chance 
to grace it, :■ - 

• O'* - 

The Rand contingent staid too long but finally left 
a jittle after four, giving me a chance to get back 
to Ghana, * thought, but Juanita arrived and 
remained af Yucca until it was time for her to join 
Pat and others who are participating in a party for Joe R egard 
across the fence tonight. Supper had<. long been over when 
I said goodbye to Juanita and so 1 brought mpne home, thinking 
to eat it with the news. But. other young ladies and 
gentlemen, having arrived for the party, came over to 
see me before getting bogged down in festivities across the 
fence and thus I missed theChristian Semper address which I wanted 
hear but shall probably catch in a re-broadcast sometime 
after midnight. I thought Juanita looked-, pretty well but, 
of course, is showing^ curves of her pregnqjicy. 

So has spun the day and so must the morrow be busy. But 
so long as I can close my door at dusk dark, chat a little 
with that lady of Lyme:, turn to my steamboat gifts, then the 
world is bright and gay. 

And again my gratitude for making this such a lovely 
natal anniversary time,,,,,,, 


Memorandum : 

Hot-hot and not the slightest suggestion of a rain 
for States around. 

And having gotten this far,, the 'phone rang and it 
was I, S. Willard so that now it is uoh, much later 
than when I sat down for a little chat • 

From I, S. Wniard and another a gent, I 
learned that the R ocket was in town last night with 
the Lost Word, staying at the Shamrock motel, and 
at 11 this morning, Carolyn dropped by the I. S. W, 
residence for a Howdy. The girls ere en route for 
Dallas where there is a pagent of some sort going on 
tonight and the opera on Saturday night How those girls do 
get around. 

As for myself, I was- up to my hips in gardening all 
day until I got around in mid afternoon to Ghana 
which was just as exhilerating, 


I didn t see ttye ladies next door at the coffee hour 
as they had gone, southward with Joe Regard, I didn't 
see them yesterday, either, as they were at 9 o clock 
church, I did have a message fromCeleste, asking me 
if I would serve as Master of the Hound during her absence 
which will extend,ynto Monday night, I believe, 

Mrs, Walker telephoned this morning to ask if she 
might have more ribbon grass. She.might. She asked if 
she might bring some lady down when qoming to pick up the 
ribbon grass, some lady of theCarolineDormon persuasion, 
who brought a folio and inch and a half thiok, made 
up of paper of dbqut ,the consistency as this sheet, 
and each page beautifully illustrated with native Louisiana 
flowers, ihere were hand written notations with each 
on the page with the illustrations, the latter sometimes 





From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS* #H~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


9869 


. .. t 


extending so broadly there was scant opportunity 
for the notations, I know not what could be done with 
the wonderful collection save leaving it to one 3 
children, and the lady seems to have a flock of them • 

They have been living, she and her husband of off¬ 
spring, somewhere in Louisiana, Lafayette, perhaps, 
but are now going to Alabama to make their home a 

While the ladies were here, the truck which J • H, 
had sent, to town, arrived with masonite- boards 
for Gahanaa I absented myself from Yucca for 
a while and went to Gha n a, giving some directions 
to the.carpenters and helpers who- are putting on 
the new shingles, as to where to place the boards . 

After g etting rid of the ladies, I<.returned to 

Ghana and went into thespace above theroom amidst the un3hingled 

rafters where I spent much• time with a couple of men, 

figuring out how the masonite boards could be 

placed for the murals a The boards will be 

cut properly on the morrow I suppose,'and this week end 

I shall probably devote some time to seeing what will be 

what for subject matter <. 

I have decided that the walls of the Ghana cabin 3hall 
remain mud and lo\gs, concentrating the 
murals above the great beams, and attached to 
the rafters, the strangest decors a log cabin ever 
experienced , 2Tie space used against the rafters will 
be a&out 8 feet in height and IS feet in length, with many 
„ trick employed in the design to conceal in large measure the 
lines where the masonite meet,* If this Sistine Chapel 
3ort of thing is ever achieved it will certainly be different but 
how different and how good or bad, only'the future 
can determine • I think I shall use only one mural 
on the wall, and that in the space above the fireplace a What 
the rest will be, I cannot imagine at the moment , 

Around 7:30 tonight, J, H. ' phoned me 
from his house, asking me if I knew where Madam Regard 
might be a I told him she had gone as far as Mansura 
with Celeste on the latter jaunt to Hew Iberia.a We both 
laughed that he didn't know he was alone • He said he had told 
Celeste 3he was tilling Madam Regard, pulling her up and down 
the big road and I'm afraid he is so right •••••• 



9870 


Sunday, May 10th, 1959. 


Memorandum• 

Yesterday was the happier, thanks to a grand epistle from 
Lyme which I really had not expected • 

And the accompanying clippings were all of prime 
interest and the information about the Willicmsburg 
' decorative plates was distinctly on the news side, too, 

I smiled when I redd the suggestion that I consult 
my musical collection to determine if .1 have 
the George Feyer Italian Echo number „ My memory is 
so keei } on this number 1 s absence from my f a vorite 
d bscs that I can readily and in all truth confess 
Echoes of Italy does not figure in the group • I should 
love to have the item eventually but as I have been 
blessed with so many tresors to entrance me during the ensuing 
season, I pray you to retqin your copy until I touch 
on the matter again at some subsequent sitting so you may 
be enjoying it during the interim,even as I shall 
be enjoying the prsent new-comers a 

As for the recent mails * nothing in them have so puzzled 
me as the greetings in an envelope cancelled from -Washington, 

D, C., extending natal greetings from "Honey and Bill"a I 
suppose[ everybody in the world must know a billion Bills, 
but I declare I never knew anyone named Honey except the auntie 
o our cook who doesn't,[ know me well enough f to *send love and who 
has never been, I'm sure, and c ertainly isn. t now in the 
Cap itola 

It ocours to me you may recognize the hand-writing or note some 
identifying evidenoe escaping my secretary, and so I shall 
include the envelope with the card itself a Bill Storm 
is in 9x Charleston p.nd never signs herself Bill anyway 
and this Honey business is even more mystifying to me • I 
must asked James if he knows any such personsa 
- . 9 K&Vf tHO S& ait*** ' ' ‘ ' 







From the Francois MlGNON Papers, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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OYrMJ 


9871 




9872 


Monday, May 11th, 1959, 


The week fend has been hot in spite of the high winds that 
somehow didn t fail to increase the oven like-blasts, Personally 
the heat delighted me but it entranced me not at all sofar as 
the welfare of growing things might be concerned, 

Martha Robinson 'phoned me from Hewlberiaon Saturday, 

She s aid she was driving Helen Bullock up to Alexandria today 
and would arrive at Yucca on Monday afternoon at 2, She asked 
if I would telephone John and Thelma Kyser and Ursula 
Walker to be here to meet with la Bullock, as she, Martha, 
wanted to save the extra 15 mile drive to town, That's 

mighty strange type of saving, it strikes me, —Washington to 
Melrose via Hew t rlsans and Hew Iberia and unable to make 
the last 15 miles, Well, I 'phoned Thelma who said she 
bnd John had a recaption for Monday, What did I think 
a bou /jar sending Carmen in her place and John's, 

J didn t think so, I did not tell her I 

thought Carmen would jump at coming if given 

half a hint, I merely pointed out that I thought 

it wiser for me to put la Bullock on the 'phone when 

3he arrived so she could talk with Thelma arid they 

might a rrange a later meeting, T promising to get 

laBullock to town, which would be easy enough, what with 

la Walker here for the. conference, but I was careful 

not to tell Thelma that Mrs .Walker was scheduled on la D ullock's 

request to be here. Well,, so we shall see what tomorrow has to 

offer. 

You may imagine how surprise <(1 was when J, H, told 
me at noon the Wenk family would honor us this 
week end, As he and I are alone, we did lour best 
to entertain, I remaining at his house until 
p a st my bedtime in lending a hand. They arrived soon 
after Saturday dinner and remained until this evening, 

The doctor astonished me by his affability and general 

spirit of gaiety. He seems to have a sense of values 

quite different from anything I ever noted before and was 

quite pleasant throughout his stay 1 Sister was on her 

gofld behavoir but one felt she wasn t liking 

the role pf second fiddle she was forced to play but she did 

3eem attentive to her husband's needs. The children were as usual, 

From the a bove, you may the more readily appreciate how much 
the shaft of Lyme sunshine meant to me .. 


Memorandum j 

Well, we finally got our rain last night, or more 
precisely this morning around 2:30, —about an inch 
of the 3tuff and we certainly needed it, 

A peal of thunder awakened me and it was pleassant to 
lie awake, listening to the rattle of the raindrops 
on the flat of the banana leaves. 

The sun made up its mind about 1J. o'clock 
a nd remained out until a bout sunset time when more clouds 
gathered and there is a promise of more dampness tonight which 
Tkgan take. 

There was quite a few gusts of wind during last night, 
which blowed down trees and unroofed some houses, and 
took off the canvas covering on unshingled 
Cchana, dampening the mural boards housed within but that 
will do no harm, 

I got around to open birthday gifts which the ladies 
across the fence had left with the servant to deliver on Saturday, 
Madam Regard's was shaving lotion which T can U88 t 0 va8 t 
satisfaction, Celeste's was, of all things, another 
pair of pa jamas,\They look very fine and I shall plaoe 
the^with the other six or eight boxes of pajamas 
I have been receiving from her with successive gift times 
o/er the years, 

('WftJe./VW«V 

Helen Bulldck and Martha Robinson arrived 
about 2:30. Mrs. W a lker arrived a minute or two 
l a ter. We talked until 2 when I called 'Thelma 
so that she might chat with la Bullock, At 
7 tonight Thelma oalled me, saying she had forgotten about 
the telephone appointment we had arranged a yd had gone to town. 
After calling her several time between 2 a nd 3 o'clock, 

Mrs. Walker suggested that she would be glad to 

drive the ladies to town so that la Bullock could see it, 

I went with them and we dropped by Carmen 1 s Red Cross office 






Frnm rhe FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #11-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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SKW 


9873 


9874 


Tuesday, M a y 12 th, 1959, 


so the ladie3 could talk and they did • .Then Mrs, Walker 
brought us back and the Bullock-Robinson duo headed 
b a ck toward Alexandria and la Walker to town and % 
to Ghana to see what progress the shinglers were making, 

La Bullockfis on the plump side, wore a dark, flowered 
crepe dress that was unbecoming as to design of print, 
had no style and as she was wearing no corset or girdle, 
did not make an impressive appearance although she 
seems interested enough in her work but tends to 
stress doings in Virginia and in Cooperstown, Hew York, too 
much when she should have been absorbing Louisiana, 
it seemed to me, 

• . r . ‘ v . • . li<» ' .. r' Vi" • \ 

The national Sites *• oundation has not as yet taken possession 
/ of The Shadows b ut will do so b efore the end of the season, 

I took particular pains to secure Raymond's job for him and to 

s a ve the b a mboo and to get the photo of Weeks put 

under glass and the promise to h a ve the personal correspondence 

taken care of appropriately . That was all I wanted to do and 

aside from some discussion about doing a preface to 

the cook book, * let things go at that, 

I sat with Martha Up bin s on while going to town and 
back, She leaves for IrelaiicT June 12th and with 
a groupls of arch itects will be guests of some 
Irish groups and later a like g roup in England, enabling 
her to explore a flock of old houses, •A friend of 
Martha's purchased a fine small mansion in Ireland 
recently. It is d ecorated with Angelica Kaufman frescos, 
and the price for the property was six’ thousand dollars, 

Martha says if she can find a bargain, she thinks she will 
buy one where she oan spend the summers and have her children 
come to visit her, always returning to New'Orleans for the 
winters. She asked me to come and be her guest'for 
a nice long stay on her return to Audubon Place in October, 

She pressed me for an answer and I said Maybe, meaning Ho, 
of course, 

» ’ 

My column for this week must have gone to Buckeye for al¬ 
though mailed Saturday, it had not made the 15 miles to 
town 48 hours later, It wasn't any good but I do hope 
I don't have to do another, equally bad, to replace it,,,,,,,. 


Memorandum• 

Tiie clouds drizzled another inche of rain during the 
night and I loved every drop. It sprinkled during 
the morning but by noon the clouds were breaking up and 
the carpenters began hammering away at their Ghana shingles 
once more, even as they did yesterday afternoon By sunset, 
the 3ky was cloudless and the air is heavy, indoors and out, 
with the perfume of grandiflora magnolias. 

Along n bout 6:30 a gentleman called to get some 
snapshots of the African buildings, He said he hailed 
from Vancouver, and had been driving down the Washingto-Oregon 
coast, and across the country to Arkansas And thence into 
Louisiana and planned to go on through Central and 
SouthAmerica in his little 1 olkswagon . He was 
q delightful person and it w as obvious the name given 
and the place of origin was not the real point of origin, as 
turned out later when the light had died ’enough to permit 
him to be refreshed by a glass of wine before heading southward, 
Then it was he mentioned his name as Klaus von Hantuelmanjk — 
and he •mentioned Germany rather than Vancouver as having been 
his starting point # Perhaps I shall hear from him again 
a s I thought him quite a delightful soul, 

Across the fence, the ladies got home last night and 
Celeste reported a darling time as having been had 
in Hew Iberia . She said that two people, she had learned, 
while there, had come up on Friday from Hew Orleans to 
look after or over some of the things in The Shadows, people 
from The Hathional Sites Foundation, she supposed. 

She might have been quite taken -aback, had I told her they were 
at Melrose yesterday while shewas still in the big road, 

• 8 t ^ ' v 1 

It had been delightful having J, H, to dine with us at 
the big house since Friday and K know I should miss him this 
noon, now that his wife was back,- &ut I iffas wrong for 








Wednesday, Nay 13th, 1959 


there he was at table at noon, his wife having gone on a 
frolic at the Country Club, He asked the clerk at 
supper if she had returned home as yet but she had not, which 
is nobody's business but theirs but it does incline one to 
ponder on the lack of any sense of responsibility, so far as the 
domestic scene i3 concerned, 


Memorandum : 

Full summer with everything looking its prettiest so far as 
gradations of greens go in making a pretty garden, 

I had such a delightful session last night in spite of 
my sleepiness, spending a delightful hour with John 
Milton a nd, the more I listen to tjie reading, the more convinced 
the artist reading it has done about as fine a thing in ,, 
this line that one is likely to encounter anywhere, I want to 
return to the same fare tonight, —if and when,,,, 

Little old^hana today seemed like the personification 
of some small African nation being inundated by natives. For 
some reason or other, extra colored carpenters from neighboring 
plantations appeared and they were sent to join the four already at 
work re-roofing the little c a bin. The place seemed to be swarming 
with carpenters and although there must have been much fall.:jag 
over each other, they somehow did manage to finish tapping on the 
final shingle before sundown, after which they all passed this way 
and got a drink I had promised if they completed the job, Ihey did 
get the gutters hung and new ones,, looking old made but 
there's no rush about that and they will return within a -> J 
few days after they have done some hoeing, in the several cotton 


I must remember to endorse a check and forward it to James 
on the morrow, a check Received today from Sears-Roebuck today, 

I had ordered 3ome paints and had sent the money in accordance 
with theprice quoted by their Natchitoches office. But there 
was an error of two cents in my favor and so a check to that amount 
came flying back promptly, Recalling the incredible mix-up 
James ortce had in the matter of getting 3ome "window shades", 
as the artist calls glasses, for little Miss Hunter, I believe 
he will like this touch of getting a check to the 
a mount of two cents. 

When I went to the store this morning with the mail, 
the clerk pointed to a beautiful ginger lily in a pot, 
saying Blythe had passed this way around 8 and had left 
the plant for'me and had said 3hewas at the camp having 
some work done and that she would be glad if I would come over 
to see her. The hour was 11 and so I thought 1 wouldtake 
time out around 2 to d a sh aoross the cotton patch, Itie 
artist was at the store and heard the message. Ten minu es later 
she t elephoned me from her house, saying Mrs,Rand had just 
stopped there, heading toward Alexandria, and asked her 
to telephone me to say she couldii't understand why 1 hadn't 
dropped by'to s l ee her. She must have some sort of a bee in her bonn 
or else 1 didn t g et her message, left at 8 o'clock but eceived 
at 11, in precisely the fashion she left it, 

I was •relieved to leafn this niori that the Enterprise 
had just received my Cane* iver Memo which had been 


patches. They will be coming back considerably later, too, 
if and when the ceiling murals are ever sufficiently in a 
state of progress as to make their final placement in order,,' 

• v ?* , , ' ■ • ’ J } •• 

I intended mentioning on Monday night thpt, according to 
the announcement on Invitation to Learning, Prescott s 
Cpnquest of Peru is scheduled fo next mond a y night . I hope we 
a re not again disappointed on this subject, — a surprise 
neither of us relished, I know. 

Across the fence, I had a cup of coffee with Celeste thi3 morning. 


mailed from here on Saturday, Four days to go 15 miles ,in 
tliis age of the jet. The column, Prelude to Racket isn t 
a^ygood but tiie subject matter is timely and so will 
P a s8 on that score, perhaps, 

*i. i 1 ’ , ' ') 4 \ i •' i' '! 

j It's 81'range with my day beginning about 4:45 and lasting 
until 1Q--17 hours,, more or less, and so little time for 
doing what I want to do most these days, —relax and do nothing 
but listen to my natal day gifts without falling asleep,,,,,,,,, 





From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University o£ North c'aTolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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av«r. 


9877 


9878 


v. 


Thursday, May 14th, 1959, 


Madam Regard remaining in bed, exhausted from too 
much travel last week end, 

The quadrientel political pot is beginning to boil merrily 
in at least one , spot in Louisiana, —the Legislature, 
which Governor Long addressed in Ik session tonight. He said 
the speech would be an official pronouncement for the most part 
but agreed to pay for 15 minutes, just in oase something 
of a political nature crept in. As was to be ' <■ 

expected,mmst of it was indeed political and at the 
end of the half hour allotment, he was cut off the air although 
a later news ca^-t, .indicates indicates that instead of limiting himself 
to 30 minutes, he actually went on and on for an hour and three 
quarters, mentioning, a nong other things that the State budget 
would be ,719 millions, an increase of 86 millions In the same 
btetfyli the Governor went to great pains to coimplain 
about his immediate predecessors and how wasteful they 
nad been with public money and how extravagant, etc,, 
etc,, and the whole business couched in typical Long gutter 
breed of language, i 

UiV i -V ■ .V. £... jV. > V. i- '■ -■ '7 • ■ - - ■ : ■ ' 

He complained about some of the members of the Legislature 
not supporting- him 100 percent ,, including a Baton 
Rouge legislator named Deblieux, He merely mentioned 
Mr, Deblieux'8 name but, had it been Huey talking, 

Huey would have called Mr, Deblieux, "Kinky" Deblieux, 
if Henry had known, as everyone else in this a rea seems to 
know,, that t his branch of the Deblieux family has a strain 
of colored blood. It is rather strange that the Longs, 
although hill-billy, and willing to luse color connections 
for personal political. advantage, have never been aiti- 
raeial, a fact that has always struck me as paradoxical indeeed. 

So runeth the day and so must, I turn to doing a dab of mail 
and then turn to a dab more of reading befofe catching 
the late news. The somewhat rumpled enclosure has to do with 
the Louisiana Landmark Society, backed by the lady who encourages 
preservation of old Louisiana homes and dreams of preserving 
one for herself, not in Louisiana but in Ireland,,,,,, 


Memorandum : , 

• i * “* 

A lovely day but pleasantly cool in the 70's with 
the promise of a low in the 50's for tonight and it feels like it, 

A gremlin seemed to get into the mail today, 

I somehow did not pick up one letter when I departed for the 
Post Office and it will therefore go forward on the morrow. As 
for the .in—coning;, there didn't seem to be any 1st class 
material at all, only the newspapers. 

Having a secretary to hand, nevertheless, I started to read 
the Cane^iver Memo about a i» embryo racket but found it so 
wordy, I broke off before getting beyond a couple of paragraphs. 

How different my columns would be if only I might read them 
before sending them forward. 

My a ctivies took me to the store quite early this morning 
so that a couple of mulatto gentlemen and I were there to 
greet the merchant-planter when he bestirred himself. Before 
he arrived, I enjoyed chatting with the cafe-ay-lait folks 
and wasreminded of something or other I had read recently about 
the forever chaging pronunciations of all languages, a case 
cited being that of the contemporary pronunciation in France of the 
word for king which, it was said, was definitely a two syllable word 
7 or 8 hunrded years ago, the "roi" apparently pronounced 
as "ro-ay "• 

Ihis came to mind because the conversation on the store gallery 
was in French, .—of local persuasion, and one of the men 
mentioned having some garden seed in a box which he thought he 
had misplaced but readily discovered. Phonetically, he 
referred to the box, not as "boite " but a s "bo-aV * 

"You eat " kinds of seed, not "huit" kinds were in la bou-ay • 

And it all reminded me so much of the Swansea neighborhood in 









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8V8t! 


9880 


9879 




Friday, May 15th, 1959 , 


northern Florida where one, if lucky enough to venture off 
the beaten track, discovers uneducated people still 
talking Elizabethen English as though characters suddenly 
coming to light out of the King James version of 
The^ible, I hope the Library of Congress is making 
recordings of such hold-overs, even as am I, thanks to 
my most bountiful supply of tape, 

ihe artist came to see me this afternoon, I went over 
toGhana with her and g a ve her a glimpse of what I 
propose, to do by way of decors in the region of the rafters. 

She was entranced at the prospect and wanted to start right 
then but I reckon it will be at least another week before things 
will be properly prepared for the initial start. 

Father Callahan came a little later and I took him to 
Ghana but did not mention anything a bout the interior treatment of 
the place, ^hetre will be time enough for that when something 
is undertaken. In the mean time, the carpenters 
have all dropped thier hammers for hoes and are chopping 
cotton at a great rate but will be back when that job is 
completed or a rain takes them out of the fields, 
in or e i At . Aoo* saiu-irQ. 'j 

Father Calhan spoke of Delaware Matter Gap and how he had 
bejen there for a week end in winter 30 years ago. He 
said the- owner of the hotel where he stopped told him he 
had a brother owning another hotel on the far side Of 
the Gcap and that the had built a little church half way between 
for the convenience of summer tourists and that if Father 
Callahan cared to come up there in summer time, he 
might stay with either brother he preferred and could take 
for hiscompensation for services whatever the• collections 
might be. Father Callahan said it was the only time he could 
remember anyone offering him, a Catholic Priest, a Protestant 
Church wherein to make a summer's living* 

t Some of the gourd vines are beginning to crawl at a great 
rate„ a f-ew of them reaching 6 or 7 feet and several of them 
- beginning to bear fruit, little gourds about the size of 
one's thumb, and one or two as large as one's fiat And so 
the season advances and so does the hour and I must get 
busy so I may do a biff of business on my reading machine 
before calling it a day,,,,,. 


Memorandum : 

Such a pleasant day, cloudless and the thermometer at 
about 75, 

Thelma Kyser telephoned at 7: 30 this morning, a sking if 
she might bring Charles Dufour down around 9:30. 

She might and did about 10, 

9 

Ch a rle^ K Dufour does a column in the 1 imes Picayune, 

He was invited to address some organization in town last 
night. He must be a native of Hew Orleans for he had 
never been in the Cane Miver country before • He liked 
'Natchitoches and asked Thelma if it would be possible 
for him to establish contact with me, He must have heard of me 
through Martha Robinson, Anyway Thelma brought him down 
and naturally, as he is a civilized person, he fell 
in love with Melrose It was almost noon before 
they headed, back toward town, bubbling over with a zest 
of delight that is always exhilerating to witness when 
a civilized urbanite suddenly finds himself in the depths 
’ of the remote loops and bends of theCane H iver country, 

Later this afternoon, Thelma -'phoned me to thank 
me for the morning „ As indicated by one or two things 
said while here, Carmen doesn t like Mrs, *ullock, -- 
Mrs, Walker opines that is professional jealousy, while 
Carmen further sayeth to me that she doesn t like Mr, 

Dufour and that ia-because ,1 believe. Madam B and Mr, D 
opined that the. re-building of a fort from scratch is less 
to be desired than presetting what «. is already extant but 
slipping, I think they are perfectly right, I 
understand the viewpoint of the fort re-builders , too, for 
that is the sort of toy that is a bout the only thing in 
this general field that will attract and delight the 
business men,'and once they are hooked by the /ort, they 
are more than likely to follow along in some effort 
to preserve ante bellum structures they, a s owners, would 
otherwise let f a ll down through neglect or tear down just 
to be disagreeable. Carmen will have to take care of her 






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9881 





i « 


own pet preferences and I shall continue playing ball both 
with Madam B and Mr. D, 

• lfi \ ■ . ' ' tl 

Thelma told me further that on le a uing the front gate 
this noon, she had seen J. H. on.the store gallery and 
stopped to say Howdy, She said she told him 3 he • 
thought my new project the best. Momentarily J, H, didn't 
recall what she was talking a bout but when she mentioned 
hana that brought the business b a ck to mind and he said 
that I had asked for the little house and he thought it 
alright to preserve. Alright and at that J helma 
sqid she nearly f ell out of the car. Alright, —and so 
did Mr, D, - 

» 

Thelma, --and this memo seems to be mostly about her. — 
Thelma told me that yesterday she had had some people from 
somewhere who had to. see Miss frrmon. There was no 
response to a telephone call and so they drove to Briarwood 
and found Carr\e out in the woods, digging like mad. And so 
Carrie is back from her Alabama jaunt and I must i> pen 
her a line of congratulation on her coronation, 

I 3aw both ladies across the fence at the coffee hour, 

I must say Madam Regard is looking mighty frail and I 
cannot help wondering if she will make her next birthday. B ut 
she has staged many come'-backs following former sags and 
I hold the thought she may do so again* 

-- » • . i ' "■ 

Blue berries are in season and some of the younger children 
must jiave played hookey from the hoe hand gangs today for 
a copple of them brought me, —. each, —a gallon 
bucket of the lovliest berries imageinable, They 
wcre.’i t giving them a w a y, they explained, but were selling them — 
BO cents a gallon bucket and the purchaser might keep the bucket, 
I thought^ the charge so reasonable that I laughed in my beard 
and powed the youngsters would have done better had they 
presented the berries as gifts and received something in return, 

ml . , i. V 

■tonight I have to be nnoble and hew to the line, for 
my impulse is very^ strong to concentrate on my natal day gifts 
but l must force myself to leave the reading maohine alone and 
devote my efforts to this keyboard,, I.hold the thought thinqs 
m aV turn ever so pleasantly in Lyme,,,,,, 




9882 


Sunday, ^ay 17th, 1959. 


• Memorandum • 

How time scurries, what with yesterday having seemed 
today and today like tomorrow, what with aL 1 the odds and 
end of yesterday to be gathered up and all the looms to 
be laced up as against the morrow's dawn. 

The weather remains summer-ish although cloudy 
both yesterday and today, with a rumble of thunder to the 
north of us although we s all probably not get much rain. 

It came down fromAkkansas as close as Bermuda yesterday twice 
t in the morning but never did make it down here. 

It seems o-little more promising for a dab tonight but 
whether it does or doesn t arrive leaves me indifferent for 
we have enough although not ijoo much. I am 
sure the cotton planters don irnnt any. 

I got the Ghana garden hoes yesterday morning and 
the corn, now 8 or 10 inches high, looks pert enough. The 
. zinnias are looking alright but they ar? a little slower. 

As for the gourds, even in every garden, they are all 
scrambling a round at a great rate, full of 
blossoms and some of the varieties apparantly qi ite 
new to thi3 bend of the river. White blossoms and . v | 

deep yellow blossoms are common enough but 1 seem to have a 
few that are purple and some lavendar, both of which 
are pretty enough and the purple unusual, I believe. 

I, shall be curious to see what kind of fruit they produce. 

J began giving some serious attention to the 
> murals this morning about 5 o'clock. Oddly enough, although 
Cchana seems to be conventi onal enough in measurements, 
it turns out that no two of the opposite walls of this M four-~s 
. sided streutre are quite the same and the fireplace at the end 
of the house is no- in the t middle of the north wall, which 
makes no difference until one beings to figure out some 
sort of a design that will not look to cock-- 
eyed, when tied in with the rest of the interior. 

..... I am thinking of a black Christ on a white cross a gainst 









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9883 


ZMA'- 


9884 


Monday, ^ay 18th, IS59, 


a^U, *oo. 

«** *• 6e pretty e "° U9h /or th ‘ 
long walls, chinked- with mud, 

*. °°°°\- ° /I0 ° 

slws&J • & y^r? suFi. -* * 

ss«:n! , p.y^xx .««*»*»»- “ d 

Tope r W »« /«« *” “ uo '‘’ 

...*:v-rvsa:siS 1 rH 5 "'"' 

8^/eet Unhand « $*£‘"“jj w^of 

sss« d ij «/ a :;s 

out * oist “ re>et0- ’ “ 4 

they can fodue it. 

has provided a measure o/ lci3ure at Lyme. 


* Memorandum : 

i 7 ull summer and lovely with a brisk breeze 
from the Gulf to temper the high humidity. 

The artist came to see me before 
7 o'clock this morning, nea^ and trim and 
obviously impatient to do some painting. We dis¬ 
cussed the Ghana composition, the black Christ on a white 
cross with the tiny smaller crosses in juxtaposition, —blaok 
crosses on which white men were hanging # We discussed 
some touch of something for the somewhat empty space above 
and to the right and left of the top of the major cross, 

I indicated a white dove against the panic" background 
as suitable and symbolic of the dusky Saifir&r's 
soul winging its way to Paradise on the Xpne side and 
a little black cherub with white wings on the right 
of the space above the cross, 

I was particularly enchanted with the white dove by the time 
•the artist got through with. In painting the featured 

creature, she had proven once more what untutored artist are 
forever proving, to wit, that by some sixth sense they 
hit on just the right thing without having the erudition to 
know it, for, instead of depicting a dove, she knocked off 
a white something or other that looks much more like an 
over-sized aigrette, which, come to think of it, 
what with the cotton rows at the base of the composition, 
and the presence of the scene in Louisiana, the white aigrette 
would indeed be more fitting than the conventional white dove « 

* ’ -.v - ... \ :;i j- j f -.<S 

JFe both fiddled with the curve in the neck line of the slight j 
inclined head of the dominant figure and. I must say it turned out 
wonderfully pleasing. As for the kinky h a tr on the lead 
c f ';*>:• s ,12 /—ys'j'a -.tid ■■ snchoio 

y n r.'f.jly if- .»;2 2o sr .!.*> • *ew hrw 

%•; b~-S-'ce c \f Je ■> :p' y-n r? ’ i K rlv ' 'nj tu ' -; 

v : r j -3 - — * «•' »iOC 9.' 

At suppbr tonight, J, M, i, cs in one of his drole <U> 

, modes when speaking of the retired overseer, Mr, Ernest, 


J, S, said, in mook hesitation and regret x 









9886 


", •• ,uhhhhh, Ernest must have been drunk last night ••••• 

he lost his teeth . Eugene found one plate on the 

store gallery where they must have been since last 
night and Puny found the other plate somewhere 
in the road, with one plate being broken ,,,,,,. 

Ernest stays drunk too much of the time .•••" 

I hope you had the good luck I did in being able 
to get tonight*s Invitation to Learning, 
even though the gue.sts of Walter G ohen seemed dull 
enough and contributed little or nothing to 
the average listeners information on the 
subject, I reckon. But perhaps they did me 
a serixice by making me ask myself if I hadn't 
better re-read Prescot t again as soon as possible 
to determin if I read something into Prescott 
that these gentlemen didn't get or if, on the 
contrary, they discovered something in Prescott that 
I missed. As for myself, my reading o Prescott 
afforded me the greatest revulsion toward Pizz a ro 
and everything is ruthless power demonstrated 
in the Conquest but tonigh 's gentlemen seemed to 
think that Prescott was sympathetically inclined 
toward the whole Spanish business in Peru which 
was just the opposite of the impression I held as 
to Pre3contt's opinion about the whole business. 

From what was said*tonight, I got the impression 
the spe ker3 believed that Prescott felt that 
European civilization and Christianity as exemplified 
by the destruction of the Inca civilization wa3 
not only inevitable but something 'to be 
desired, I got no 3uch impression from what 
little reading I haue done -in Prescott and so another 
reading of thi3 volume seems to be necessary for 
me to find out if I read the thing awry or if these 
gentlemen got the correct impression, as 
voiceed by them in accents quite foreign to my 
own concepts as to what Prescott was trying to 
con vey. 

My column for this week's Enterprise must have gone 
to Buckeye fo although it should have been elivered 
long since, it has not as yet reached ity destination, 
he column, —A Book on Tour House, wasn t 
di ything special but it is distressing when filler is 
needed and forwarded and then goes astray. But I’m 
too busy at the moment to worry a bout that point and hoi 


uesday. May 19th, 1959 


Memorandum : 


Pure summer continues 


Ihe a.rti3t called me to ask for a brush and I was gla 
was glad to pass by to see how she was Tnaking out with her 
religious picutre. It was well * made a round, Ihe 
work had gone along rather nicely with innovations that 
were arresting but interesting, such as one arm o Christ 
seems to be about a third shorter than the other, etc, 

Tfitf big white cross supporting the. arms and rising 
above the head looked well enough and the 
small black crosses, complete on which the white 
thieves were hung were jus.t fine, But,,,,,,and I can’t 
understand it, the artist , having done the. black crosses 
so nicely, could not understand that there was 
omething more to the big white cross than the top 
so that the torso and lege were hanging suspended above 
the g round, with nothing at all by way of the 
cross as a base rising out of the ground to* support 
everything above, Surely she couldn't have 
supposed that in this famou§ case, the law of , 

gravity had been suspended. Of course, it was anybody s 
guess why there should have been a nail in 
the feet of fhe figure since there was nothing to nail an 
anything to. By df n f Q f much explanation, pointing to 
the bases of the black crosses already painted 
and general explanation, I persuaded her to carry the 
cross through to rest on the grbund but it was a struggle 


'there is labor in attempting what I$an attempting 
for (rfiana, — I'm quite sure a bout that,— but • 

I'm equally certain there is quite a lot of suppressed 
fun , too, for me and probably a measure of amused 
astonishment on the part of the painter who probably thinks 
white folks are the wackiest people. 


the thought it may turn Up oh the morrow 














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388 *! 


9887 


9888 


Wednesday, May 20th, 1959. 


Mrs. WdL her telephoned me this morning to say that 
Anne Perkins of Colfax had died. I may have mentioned 
her at some time or other, a young lady who was 
secretary to the v istict Attorney who suddenly lost 
her sight, having been afflicted with diabetes without 
realizing it until her vision was suddenly gone. 

Mrs. Walker had planned to drive her up 
to Mew Tersey this summer to procure a seeing-eye 
dog and take the course recommended for the training 
of patie,nt and dog. I thought the intention a 
noble one a few months ago when I learned of it but now that 
trip will not be made, of course. 

.Across the fence, I saw both ladies today for 
a change, and I missed the laughter that usually 
runs around the rims of the coffee cups whe Madam 
regard and. I, fi.ip, Joy ourselves . 

Celeste's big problem of the moment is 
the avalanch of invitations she is receiving to 
graduations, weddings, etc., etc. I opined that 
I thought Mrs. Roosevelt so right when, at the 
time her son, Joh, Married Miss Clark at ffohant. Mass., 

Mrs.,R. put a soft pedal on the ever-widening scope 
the festivities began taking, saying that everyone 
should remember that it was the young bride and 
groom's d a y and that their ahppiness shoul be the 
first consideration of d 1 the participants. Celeste 
couldn't a gree to this concept, saying she just 
loved parties and weddings and that she thought 
primary consideration should be given the entertain¬ 
ment of the guests rather th a n those whose nuptials 
were to be celebrated. Off hand, I should say 
that these two differing points of view pretty well 
illustrate thebasic differences in social viewpoints as between 
Mrs. R. and Mrs. 3. — i 

Tomorrow morning I must bestir myself even as I 
did this morning at 4j45 to give a guiding hand to the 
gourds which are climbing madly in every direction and 
not exclusively up, as they should be doing. An amplitude 
of plants is matched by an amplitude of bugs, the latter 
shortly turning into worms which will be "smiting" the 
vines, thus reducing the number and samving me the trouble of 
thinning them out. If only I could thin out a few bugs........ 


Memorandum 

Full summer, —full Louisiana summer, meaning 
hot and humid with the night time * 

moisture for the plants fo jump with the combina¬ 
tion of the warmth and the moisture. 

The postman seemed to be a d a b of j'umping 
today, too, but I cannot say if it was the 
moisture combination .or not or merely that he fondly 
disregarded in-coming mail and made his rounds an hou 
ahead of schedule, bringing nothing ai d taking 
away nothing, so far as my outgoing post was 
concerned. Hence two envelopes from here bearing 
the same cancellation date. 

"in yesterday’s unposted memo, there were a 
couple of enclosures of no particular ™ tereat " 

The one from Mrs. Spinks was in an envelope bearing 

cancellation of Crockett, Texas, where ever that may be, 
Is for the note from Mrs. Stirling, I was vaguely 
surprised she spoke at such length about en { 0 . v * 1 * 9 1 
the ? Enterprise and the liklihood of seeing it no. Lon 9 er 
since, I assume, James may have not're-subscribed for the 
10 people or so to whom copies were sent by the 
paper. 'I suppose Mrs. St rling had about a year's 
subscription gratis and I gather from her 
7 -tier she' would enjoy another year — gratis. It may 
irr t not ir. Jug of further gift 3U6«r<ptl.» I** 
somehow I get the impression she went to some trouble 
to indicate she could stand more. 

Stranglely enough, there's something °- t 
the tenor of her letter reminding me that both Celeste 
and I received invitation s to her daughter s wedding 
last January, and I thought both of these invitations 
out of order since, in my opinion, simple announcements 


















9890 


Thursday, May 81st, 1959 


would have sufficed* I saw the daughter but once in 
my life and Celeste and J* R* never ssw the girl, and 
while parents do incline to lean heavily on 
their own acquaintances when it cones to issuing 
invitation to their daughter'§~)oedding, I do not 
expect such gestures from the splendid type of 
individual of which Mrs, Stirling most certainly is* 

I am certainly s orry she failed to get the Cane *iver Memo 
entitled Prelude to Racket* 


Memorandum 


Summer heat this morning and tonight with a tempering 
shower at noonday to cool things a little while the cool 
lasted, —an hour or so, and then to make things a 
little more sticky when the full warmth returned* 

In the Enterprise going forward, the Dufour 
column is said to be re-ptinted, perhaps on the 
Society page or some such* 

My day seems to have been fairlydiversified in 
lines of endeavor, nothing of which amount to much* 

Alvin Johnson 1 8 papa went to Little River and got 

3ome moss with which we mixed with mud and with 

this "oat ", as it is called, got the holes chinked up 

in Ghana* While we were wvoking near the fireplace, the 

sound of drummming outside cane to our ears and I felt 

the vibration on the mantlepiece on which my hand chanced 

to be resting* We went outside to investigae and 

discovered a red headed woodpecker trying out his 

bill on the old timber making up the newly placed gutters* 

I think this specie o bird was never famous for its tameness 
but this year the several families about the place seem 
not at all distrubed by the near presence of human beings* 

I had a couple of little low benches, about 18 inches 
in height, just long-enough to hold two people 
comfortable, made out of some rough lumber and 
designed to go on either side of the fireplace* 

I am under the impression people interested in looking 
a t the murals will find them convenient to rest on 
as they gaze aloft but there will be calf skin bottom chairs 
and cornshuck bottom chairs for those who prefer greater eleva 
tion from the flpor level* 


On the home front, J* H* and Ran headed out for Hew 
Orleans this morning about 9:30* I suppose they 
will return tomorrow although perhaps tonight* 

On the Art front, the a rtist finished her 
painting of the black c hrist on the cross today* Somehow 
she succeeded in making the whole thing look mighty 
lack a poster which isalright in its amateur-ish 
effect* She never did comprehend that the foot 
of'the cross was but a continuation of the top of the 
cross, the latter having been executed well enough* *nd 
so, having made a block of the lower section of the 
cross, obviously n uite unrelated to the upper section, 

I had to end up by painting in a portion of the lower 
section which, in block form, she had made too large 
but, at least, I continued the white block far enough up 
to be lost behind the torso of the figure* I shall let 
the two pieces forming the Composition dry for a 
few days, cloistering it in t he chapel, after which I 
shall shellac it and then see about getting it 
installed on the rafters of Ghana above the fireplace * 

I conferred with the artist over the small mural, 
at the opposite end of the Ghana ceiling from the 
fireplace and a gourd subject was worked out in 
some detail* I shouldn t think she could go wrong 
on such a composition but I'll not be surprised if 
she finds a way, so remarkable are her whimsies* And 
now, after all this beefing, I must get to work before 
I begin nodding. May spring be easing into summer 
delightfully in the Lyme area and little Miss Lee making 
every opportunity to get a glimpse of the pehnomenon,*,** 








I 


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•o' 




9891 



9892 


Friday, May 22nd, 1959. 


* was glad to hear from James, fearing h‘e might 
have been under the weather or, possibly, having taken 

& tr + ip / V i S his want occasionally. 

J-neiritt-o Brien girls must find it as difficult to 

drop post cards as to theRocket and the Lost Word. 

neither of whom have I heard from since the last time 

the Socket passed thisway, possibly a month ago. 

b * e, ' caa J in 9 about of late to discover a ohin a - 
berry tree of modest siSe, haying in mind to plant 
one m the neighborhood of Ghana’s southwest corner. I 
am forever cutting down young chinaberry trees. thev 
grow so madly a round here but now, oddly enough, when 
I could use one, I never encounter them ai'ymore. •But I 
has rattled the grapevine a bit and that will be all that 
is necessary to have half a dozen suddenly appearina 

V n TJ'i /•>•«»<«.. h.y are a trashy 

< th < their branches grow so fast they break 
easily in winter time but many of my friends find 

To LVa V Vuiri t fil nCe the U “re easily available when one wants 
to get a quick fire going in the fireplace. 


2he artist seems to be doing a particularly un- 
inspired job on the Gourd -Harves t mural whioh •" 
worries me not at all since it will occupy a place 
J n t+ h * l** 3 * im P°rtance, above the window up in the 
rafters at the south end of Ghana, —in juxtaposi¬ 
tion to the Cotton Crucifixion which, over the fireplace 
is going to be something more like a sketchy P ' 

poster than a picture. I hold the thought 
she may get around to painting something good-wlien she 
attempts a CaneRiver Sabbath next week, occupying one of the 
larger spa&S, -on ihTeZTt ceiling. She askedme * 
if I could pay her ten dollars .today, or, to be more precise 
if I could let her have a five dollar bill and five ones * 

I got her that amount, saying as I handed it tocher that * 
t-ere was the ten dollars. Obviously distressed, she responded 
2*^ It to , the trouble that 3 he had wanted a five dollar 

relieved wUen I explained that s fid 5 do indeed fit Jea .. 


Memorandum • t 

Another hot, humid da\j, humid in spite of the sunshine. 

t • 

Along about first dark, the winds began blwwing 
and I believe I heard a tornado roaring somewhere up the 
road. Clouds began blotting out the blue and 
the static was so tremendous I could distinguish 
not two words ofradio news,, —the second night 
in a'row I pissed these broadcasts, what with a 
telephone call or two getting in the way last night. 

* 

Perhaps an inch of rain fell gently and now, at 
20:30, it is still sprinkling. I like the moisture 
for my ide of the fence but I'm sure the'cotton 
planters aren't at dL 1 enchanted. 

My day was a busy one and I'm sleepy tonight but 
I had better nit pause to rest my eyes, what with 
a column <bo be knocked off before tomorrow's 
post departs. It just occurs to me I 
might stir up something a bout some kind '■ 
of a n inventory since I h a ve nothing in particular 
to write a bout that, for very ious reasons, —or 
readers, would go well in print. 

Carmen called me this morning to report on 
yesterday's meeting of regional representative 
at Hodges Gardens. She said Mr. Hodges asked after 
my good health. There were civic leaders 4 
present from Hachidoches, Mansfield and so on. It 
was ■ decided '-to forborne sort of society to 
operate within a Yegioh covering a bout 75 or 100 
miles by way of concerted aotion to eduoate the 
public generally and filling station attendants 
in particular regarding tfye historic and cultural 
aspects of the area. There were lots of allied 
subjeets discussed such as my plan for 

planting the highways, especially the llatchitoches-Many 
one and a name for thdt road was suggested, —King's Highway, 


1 











From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, # M~5889 in the Southern Historical Co 
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9894 


9893 


Sunday, May 84th, 1959 


or l ea3 the old roy Q 
• d I been present, J shoul 
® •I® 0 "* adjective to go w 
" ' *MK* or some such, a 

sth c e HZL pr ’ n J muoh ih ° 

. " and one incli 

such al l it rl, { by indi Oati; 
* U0h aa Kin <ra Bridge, KU 


Spanish highway. 
■d have recommended 

nth King' 3t SUch 
'"cei'it seems to r 
A \ n g s property a\ 
ned to designate 
n 9,*o e especial 
ng s Ferry or what 


and were in !?»? Carol V n «»<* 01 a 

^iiomng V h Ur 

Participants, sll lltTn ihe , 

n9 Carolyn looked 

Sss LrUst?/" 

a* a. WUkU t ,l. b 1 ..r^ So 

a premium on occasion , - ' 

■5*§83k 


^ae were fcqt/j 
'• lodges immedia 
departure of the 
" ’ :: -v-- fine. 

services of c 

I stuck with 


i ca T ,lters 

. much 

or two things rigged ud 

’ -« oe »ade /or thVsonth^i’n A oaae tn 

opo*. in the Cabin IneTfto TeZt 

■ ‘' all i ‘° + mke “ *»» -!e Sff ed 
Jed's, tts%is i\°TZ ide on or b y 

' “*«X o/ u ' 

oppo 

w/ie» finished thl table 

a 3ol?S Ihuttei^lhiU Vhlh W completel V» 

’ aginst the t n hT» ? 2 f0 s automatical, 
thing ".Zt %?•„*’£.?£A 1 '™*'*' , 

-KtAere were shA,,l« + S \ Whlm8y on 

zrfi - 

^’-■r airing, e tc 11 etc b f ddin 9» etc., might 
some other underVakllgs ' f? 8<?e * 8 *° *» 

- J , convenient t or two* wit f° m ® ** r « 

^a,n,,p 6 a oAr t 0 $ a8e a Vtie * 80 8l °"*«<* 

- Panned out. J / iad * ceiling convenient. 

Progressing with heAVu r d 9 n i l 8 " kow the 
bed at the nnn " er 9ourd picture. I 
t. drn^n K.! n °' Z™ te Vellum twist she g aUe a two 
a mule, cushioned +h» y I tWo 
the tractors-wearA rL 00 :^ 


Part. d4?»<j then 
Placed, outside 
9 a 0gets on which 

™ P/aced for furthe 
there were co„ 
little benches 
a 3 to make 1 
and so the day 
artist - ¥ 

Mas a3t 
wheeled 
9reat rubber 





I 


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MW 


9895 


3 tuff there is to eat in the house which Blythe brought for my 

delectation If I merely concentrated on white folks" 

food, there would be three times more than I could manage 

did there seems to be no end of such staples as corn . beef, ham san 

sandwiches t boiled eggs, slabs of cheese and the Lord knows 

what all. And that is the picture of the 

Sbbbath pahtry as of the moment. 

I had the rare fortune of rounding up a secretary on 
Saturday morning, thanks, probably t to Friday night s 
h a lf inch of rain that knocked, the field hands out. of the 
cotton patch. Ihus before noon, I was enable to run through 
the mail which is a rare experience for me. 

The Wednesday letter from Lyme did all that was needed to 
guarantee a happy week end. I shall be so interested to 
learn how the natal day celebration came off and, I hold 
the thought that everyone aid especially the chief 
celebrant had a grand time. 

It was so kind o little Mi3S Lee to go to the 
trouble to make the list of films. I have no doubt 
the Rocket will make prompt use of same although nobody may hear 
of same^very soon. That you should have found a film of iris 
strikep me as especially happy for I should imagine 
it may well serve just the purpose in mind. I 
shall write a joint letter, addressing it both to * 
the Rocket and the Lost Word. It will be brief, and 
divided into two parts, the first calling the Rocket s attention 
to the list from little Hiss Lee, the latter part to the Lost 
Word, suggesting an article for some J orest5ft publi- n 
cant under some such title as "New Roofs for Old Cabins , 
in which the G hana business migh figure to advantage, I should thi 
fhink .• This will let the R ocket know there is a new roof 
and as one paragraph each for each h dy will embrace the whole 
communication, one might suppose their vast pressure of 
business might enable them to glance through it 

What a kick 1 got out of your solution of the 
Honey and Bill card from Harry and Dell. Thank you much and congvt 
tulations and my appreciation for the pe'jKoeofntnd 
it brings. And again my thanks for a dandy week end . 


;iw 


9896 


Holiday, May 85th, 19 59, 


A lovely night, cloudless and star-spangled, after 
84 hours of much rajn. We had n uite a shower during 
the night, some sunshine this morning, followed by half an 
inch of rain at 10. At 1 0:30, the sun was dazzling and J. H. 
whom I saw at the Ppst Office said the hoe hands were 
knocked off again by the mud and that he would 
send me sme to attack the gardens this afternoon. 

B ut by noon it was raining again when something 
over 8 inches put much of the gourd garden under 
water and the hoe hands must have aL 1 scurried o f to 
their siesta couches or, possibly, to some inviting honkey- 
tonk. 

The artist telephoned in mid afternoon to a 3k if I should 
like to see her gourd mural which she found quite 
pretty. I told her I would take her word for it and investigate 
on my own hook on the morrow. Then 3he said her cabin was 
surrounded by water and her baby chicks were under her 
house, — all thaf hadn t been stranded in the high grass 
and drowned. It seems to..me the artist is forever 
losing chickens by drowning but she always takes suoh losses 
irtly enough. 

In answer to yourrecent query as to what news might be 
coming from James, I reckon his last letter, putting 
his silence on to the absence of a typewriter covered but 
Part of the case for even after th$ typewriter problem 
was solved, the silences seem to continue. I reckon he 
is probably writing'another book and# if-memory serves, he 
is always behind in h{s letters at such timeses? Perhaps ' V 
he is using the book,^or the being in the depths of same, 
as an excuse for not going East, or, perhaps t he may 
be rushing to finish g -book in order to i . ) p.'i'nsV 

be able to go which I doubt. . 1 , ... 

^ fruo nUs aoort Mtfoo frnawm \o ttomc arts 

T«e post continues thin which made the 
letter from la B ullock stick out like a sore thumb. Do 
you imagine that x after $11 that has gone beforep‘there is 
still a chance that the National Trust might, decline 
to accept TheShadowsI doesji, ,t sjsem ± t .ri:i / 

possible . 








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I hold the thought you may have had the good luck 
to hear this week's invitation. Dr. Bryson was back on the 
job, and Harlow's play about Faust the subject of the discussion. 

It was good in every way that last week s Prescott s 
Connuest was poor and I was deligh ed with the all too few 
lines that were read • .As an invitation to 1 earning, 
it achieved its purpose in more than one way for me. tor 
instance, I had never read this play of Uarlov > ou J 
so w a s unacquainted with the exerpts read although I was quite 
familiar witfi at least one line, in reference to Helen, 

"the fact that launched a thousand ships , and up until 
tonight I had not realized this was from the pen of Harlow. Come 
to think of it, I find myself wondering why I had never 
asked myself before whence came this line • 

I thought Dr. Bryson a little more grumpy than usual. I 
frequently do not agree with the man and yet at the same time, 1 mus 
sav he is adeot at serving a* moderator in such bust- 


Tuesday, Hay 86th, 1959 


Hemorandurn: 


A humid , morning, two showers, sandwiched be¬ 
tween dazzling sunshine this afternoon, clear tonight 
and the promise of showers for the morrow • 

A third of the gourd garden is under water but I 
believe the vines will survive • blossoms are- 

so pretty now, the safron yellows and the snowy whites, with 
an occasional lavendar which seems new in coloring for 
gourd flowers to me. I shall be curious to see. what 
sort of fruit these blossoms be-get. 

Because the water stands in the ootton rows at 
the moment and hoeing impossUble, * got a couple 
of pretty good helpers at dawning and a oouple who 
weren't much • They all needed direction but 
I could not give them as much time as I should have 
liked to for the artist arrived about 7, saying she 
had completed the aourd mural and was hoping to begin 
on the larger one, plantati on /Jnh^-hfi f Hhe design I 
envisipned for this is simply enough but, because it 
is a single composition covering three sections, 
roughly like this in appearance, 1 , it seemed to me 
wise to take the artist to Ghana forthwith and 
make a preliminary sketch in her presence which I did • 

I placed the 3 boards on the floorcomprising a spread 

of 8 feet by 12 feet, removed my shtrt, for I was 

sweating, taking off my shoes because they were muddy and 

it was better to walk in stocking feet over the layout as it came 

into being • I hold the thought she may comprehend a little 

at least bout the general tenor of the composition but 

after the baloon tires of rubber on any ci • ,J 

ante bellum cart in the gourd composition, I have 

vague misgivings • : c.: '• 

o , -.it:: • ‘ - .owo.. '-a\ »-*• • 

I was finished before 9 and coffee-ed with the 
ladies, the eldr continuing to appear might fratl, 
the other busy with plans for a large ladies' party 
she plans' giving this week or next at the country olu6# 







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8UW 


9899 


9900 




Wendesday, May 87th, 1959. 


Be/ore 10, I had taken apart the delightful 
little old bed upstairs in the African House and haq moved it 
and set jit up at Ghana• Then I invaded Dr, Miller s 
cabin where I knocked down an equally fine bed and - 
moved it to the, African House, the invasion being difficult 
because Joe Henry had taken the key away to Wyoming with him, 
much time is squandered in extracting the 
foolery out of tomfoolery, 

Thanks to a sudden and torrential downpour about 
8 o'clock, I discovered that some fault in the re¬ 
roofing of Ghana was JLetting a stream of water cascade from 
the point where walls and roof meet at one or more points 
just above the mantle, loosening the mud which had 
been chinked in so recently, I must round up 
the head carpenter on the morrow to see if this 
matter can be correot forthwith, both for th,e sake of 
the house and for the stuff being constantly added to the 
furnishings, such as today's additions in the 
form of a cornshuck bottmed chair and footstool, a 
yoke for young oxen, which will eventually probably 
go over the fireplace, the aforesaid bed and so on. 

It was nice hearing from Lionel today, I must 
respond promptly for I always like to hear from him and 
perhaps promptness of response may encourage a 
further correspondence? I suppose the issue of Holiday 
he mentions will probably be putting, in an 
a ppearance on the morrow, . 

an 4?r©vi&l tsuo s%o", t floods fti - t vst ti 

• 

I'm so glad James has Miss Mah and that Mis3 Mah 
h a a James, Obviously they hit it off wonderfully 
and I know he has always done nice little things for her 
and that she is always entranced at the opportunity 
tomake hiy feel at home. It's so unfortunate 
Hay doesn t find it possible to be in Louisiana 
more often so that she might enjoy Miss M a h, too, <. 
for I think Miss Mah is equally fond of her, I wonder 
how things are cooking in that quarter, I didn t 
hear t from la Storm on my natal day which seems odd, if one 
didn t realise she is getting forgetful , Hot a 
peep out of the Rocket, of course, but that is understandable• 


Memorandum : 

~ t t ‘ 

A curious sort of a day, sunny, damp and hot but 
without r ain in spite of much rumblings of thunder every 
now and then from one or another point on the horizon. 

And today was the one, d esignated last Hovember 87th 
by the H us si ana as being the one in which'the world id uld be 
in an uproar because of a transfer of power from the Soviets 
to the Hast Germans in Berlin whereas instead there was no 
uproar in Berlin and the -Suss in Foreign 
Minister was attending the- Dulles funeral in^ashington, 

• ' % ‘ - ' ' " ' 11 * *'•' '* ’* 

From the ridiculous to the sublime, there was the 
painting of the most prominent Ghana mural on which I had 
set such high store. After all the sweat'and endeavor of 
yesterday in sketching out the 96 foot, —square foot, 
expanse so that the design would really be exceptional, and 
going over' the thing time and again with the artist, 

I turned the thing over to her for painting. She telephoned 

me this morning and with a note of pride, asked me if I had 

time to view her progress, I didn't have time but 

took it, —and nearl y collapsed for my trouble • She 

had compressed the 96 square foot design into 38 1 

square feet, le a ving 54 square feet for whatever, ' I had 

labored diligently to contrive the composition (•in such a way 

that the point where the three separate sections joined would 

be so casual that no one viewing the composition would 

ever notice that the whole thing was not one Solid 

canvas • The twist the artist had give the thing makes it 

inevitable, if anything is done at all, to focus the eye 

slop on the point that so much effort had been spent tb conceal • 

I>had intended to skip lightly over such matters as composition, 

stressing the point that it zoos the artist who painted the 

picture. How I shall feel constrained to underline the fact 

that the coposition as well as the painting i3, indeed, the 

artist's. My primary hope had been to get color into 

the rafters. That aspiration, and only that, will 

be achieved, If ever the local a rtist missed '■ 

the bus, this is the time, One might as well 1 . 1 


;b TS0 3 «JJ. 

■.siL .v 


Hi ohon 











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9902 


9901 


Thursday, May 88th, 1959 


laugh as cry, ^ reckonj Still, I invariably be¬ 
moan it when one doesn t make the most of one s 
opportunities, when a beautiful' piece of dre38 
material is ineptly handled to make its wearer, when 
converted into a gown, look like a bag or marvelous 
ingredients for a delectable dinner converted into 
something inedable • 

I sta^gard b a ck to Yucca, all a-drip and glad I had 
a bottle of water in the ice box, I was frakly disappointed, howev 
ever, when on opening the ice box, I 

discovered the thing had gone on the blink, I can live with¬ 
out the convenience of an ice box but I have grown accustomed to 
h a ving chilled things handy and so I am 
missing it tonight, 

It was a happy but somewhat curious d ay for Father 
Anthony of theChurch of the Children of Strangers . 

Since last February, he has been awaiting the pleasure of 

the Polish Fvveign Office for a nod that he may visit 

his family in Cracow, He had his reservations for this 

month but no amount of prodding official, out of .... t 

Washington, could get any action, affirmative or negative, out 

or Warsaw, Yesterday he went to Alexandria to cancel his 

reservations, Air-France heard about it, advised him 

to wait 84 hours and advised him by telephone from Houston, 

of all places, that his required papers would all be in order and 

awaiting him on his a rrival at Idlewild air port on 

Friday and so he flies thither on the morrow, prey ing.the 

Lord, I suppose, that Air-France knows that it istalking 

about • Surely things'are at a pretty pass 

when a travel agency can effect what the Government cannot • 

My day has been an active one and I think I 3hqll 
fold up fairly early, after knocking out a few pieces 
of mail ' 

I am glad Mr, Dulles had such a fine funeral, In 


Memorandum 


As this letter will be posted on the morrow, it 
will be thp final K one of this week, I reckon, what with 
no mail stirring on the day after* With . 

Decoration D a y t coming on Saturday and James having his 
natal day on Sunday, one is bound to di ticipate such 
an observation, such as greetings by mail, a dab in 
advance if it is to reach him prior to birthday time 
which, come to think of it, is anniversary time, too • 

’Contrary to the old adage, "Lightning never 
strikes' in the same place twice", the artist tossed 
me another thunderbolt today in the same place today 
that got'hit yeserday• She is bound to be wool¬ 
gathering over "Pa", as some folks call her * 
boy friend, Joseph Metoyer, . 

• 

At some length yesterday, I believe I described how 
she had disdained my composition and compressed the 
whole thing into a third of the size in the lay¬ 
out, Of the three units making up the study, two 
run horizontal, measuring 4 feet in height and 8 feet in 
length • A third section, 4 feet in width and 8 in length 
is placed vertically at the end to round out the 
thing. Yesterday's compression was concentrated 
on he upper of the two horizontal pieces, with much blue 
sky, white clouds, below which appeared a church, etc • On 
the section immediately below this upper one was supposed to be 
a procession of people going to church, a lthough she 
placed them all acing in the opposite direction and 
then put a fine blue sky with white clouds at the top of 
thissection, also • Ihis, in the skingle composition 
gave the picture a fine sky at the top of the 
thing and then another equal ly fine sky running 
slap through the middle of the thing where the i 
two section meet • The mural is now a dead 
duck for sure but what can one do. with anybody in love, 
especially an 80 y/ear old artist ? 

, ' c. 

But there s no point in crying over ^pilled 
mural8 • Ghana gets some color and Miss ^unt&n 
no acclaim and that is a bout the sum and substanoe 




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sow 


9903 


cow 


9904 


Friday, May 29th, 1959 • 


of this go-round • 

Some perfectly outrageous performances have 
been going on in BatonRouge , so outrageous 
that possibly the metropolitan press has 
reported them in part, —Governor and legislators 
out-doi[ig themselves in scandalous performances, Probably 
Carmen will send me some clippings and, if so, I shall 
p a 33 them along, for n obody's edification but merely 
a8 samples from the c n pitol city’s gutter • Oddly 
enough, things have got so jockeyed around that 
a hill billy Governor named Long seems tox.be 
taking the cudgel Up for the colored folks a« 
affafnat the arch hill-billy Senator Reinach, t 

aspiring to be overnor, against the colored folks • Both 
of Governor and Senator are such outrageous bags, the colored 
folks, as usual, are going to get no benefit, no matter which 
force triumphs . Cousin Emmet Erwin, by the way, —I believe 
he had the Court change the spelling of his name 
to Irwin, was among those testifying ^at Committee 
meetings of the Legislature • .A fine assortment 
ofrascal3 this session is trotting out • 

. . . ' ■■■/. .. t .. . v'-vc • 

For a second day in a row, we had no rain, the skies 
being cobalt with a few big fleecy clouds dropping no 
rain on this area. With the thermometer at 
90, I could wish my ice box were working but I’ll 
get that looked into sho tly t . 

v,u i-M-n'yi v, &»•: yji'. o-vnou v:v ■ e 

he frowth of everything is astonishing and the job of 
persuading a few thousand ground tendrils to olimb up 
thq bamboo poles instead of crawling over the - 

ground is a daily job at dawning that, if properly 
carried through, would consume most of my mornings • 

But I enjoy working with them and o serving the speed 
at which they grow every 24 hours and the increase 
from day to day in the size of the gourds themselves, Last 
year I left a few. of rthe gourds hanging 
on the denuded trellises where now, half hidden by new 
vines, these gourds have been converted by wrens into 
residences so that the gourd garden is now half aviary, too, and 
while much to my liking, probably does not enchant the bu#s 
on whom the wrens must be making considerable in¬ 
roads • I shall be thinking of Lyme 
to often throughout the prolonged week end just 

ahead • 

o' 


Memorandum• 


Although this will not be going into the post 
until Monday, I'm going to have a little chat regardless • 

Sometime between 4 anf 5 this morning, came the 
first news of Arlene, buzzing around in the Gulf • Ihe 
day has been hot, in the lower 90's, and 3unny most of 
the time . At'7 tonight zpspscial bulletins by the 
Weather Bureau announced that the hurricane would probably 
hit the coast between LakeCharles and Port Arthur, 
southwest of here, traveling north through the 
Alexandria-Shreportneighborhood, the coast being 
reached a little before midnight, the rains spreading 
1 50 miles in advance of the center of the storm, with 
heavy rains scheduled to hit this region about mid¬ 
night, too, and continuing through Saturday • 

I write a little after 9 tonight • The sky is all a-glitter 
with stars, making it difficult i^o imagine that 
within a couple of hours we shall supposedly be getting 
a thorough drenching, If she wants to, 

Arlene can get herself lost somewhere in Texas, taking her 
rain with her for we really have a sufficiency from earlier in the 
week on hand already • ‘ - 

r_. i • - 

I am happy to report that my prediction about 
John Wenk not getting a boat job seems to be proven 
wrong • J . H, had a card fromPister today 
saying that John had secured a place on a British 
cargo boat with a German crew and has already sailed from 
Hew Orleans • all sounds somewhat quaint, you 

will agree, —a British boat with a German crew employing 
American hiyh3chool youths • However the thing turns or 
does not turn out will surprise me nof at all • 

I dropped by the house across the fence at 9, Celeste 
was just taking off for a Friedman funeral in town • Madam 
Regard and I had a pleasant sitting . &he said Celeste 
wanted to get back for an 11x50 dinner so that 3he might 
head out foY Alexandria fo thwith • I reckon she 










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9905 


VOW 


9906 


Sunday, May 3 1st, 1959. 


made i$, Her program are so curtailed becquse of her 
mother s fraility, she can't go anywhere or do 
anything and accordingly is thro wing a 
big party at the CountryClub shortly, 

, All the ladies and gentlemen were busy swinging 
hoes in t he cotton fields today but I did draw a lucky number 
in the person. y of Alton's papa who i3 ingenious in carpentry and 
mason work, *ne new roof did not stop water 
running down the mud.wall above the mantle, due to ho fault 
of the shingling job but occasioned by the fact’that the 
stone chimney is so rough that neither wooden shingles nor 
tin casing could divet the rain from running, down the 
chimney. This was the Johnson problem and * believe it 
was solved by putting cement along the edge of the 
uneven place where, in places, the chimney and the 
tin touched, so that the rain, descending the outside of 
the chimney could not slide between the stone and the 
tin protected shingles at that uneven juncture, It 
is to pleasant to know that when I heard the rains descending 
■tonight, they will-be going into the cistern and not 

down into the fireplace, 

, ^ yt y * < »• j, ^ j i f* » r o 

The vegetable garden at Ghana ts lookiJig promising 
enough, what with the corn 2 or 3 feet heigh, the mustard greens 
large enough to pluck, the tomatoes blossoming and 
the zinnias as sturdy as can be and perhaps 8 or 10 inches in 
height, The peppars have grown remarkably and already have peppars 
4 or 5 inches in length. This plot provides quite a pretty 
b a ckdropfor the pagoda while a fence of bamboo, perhaps 2 00 or 300 
that is to 3ay, two or three hundred feet iit length' in front 
of the place, some 15 feet from the front of the house, runs 
a bambooo fence, perhaps 4 or 5 feet in height and already 
almost cncepled by a vast mass of gourd vines' which 
shoul be wonderfully colorful as the seas oh" advances 
and the gourds begin dominating the foliage in 
quantity production, 

The artist came at 1 o'clock and we spread out the 
unfinished mural on the floor, She things she has at long 
last grasped the composition and thinks she can paint over the 
place at present so blanta ntly "out of joint, 

I have ju3t taken another look at the southern skies 
to discover the stars are 3till glittering brightly enough,, 

Arlene must have slowed up her advance or, —I hope,-changed 


Memorandum : , 

And so, the May hurricane turned out to be 
as unpredictable and illusive as the R ocket, 

Saturday 'wakened to cloudless skies and cloudless they have 
remained while Arlene, hitting the Louisiana coast 
last evening, dumped about 10 inches of rain 
on Hew Orleans, jjioved up to Baton R ou e and 
dumped six more inches and then hit out in a north¬ 
easterly direction toward McCoomb, Misss,, o er vhich 
she passed'during the mid morning, leaving us in this 
area as dry a9 the heart of any cotton farmer could wish, 

I dined across the fence as usual today, —four 
attable. When we were a bout half through, the General 
and his ife appeared unexpectedly. The wife's siter's 
husband had had an operation inShreveport and 
they had been there for a couple of nights, instead 
of .coming tyere on Friday, as had been planned, ^he 
operation was a 4 or 5 hour affair and a success, it is 
said. After desert and coffee, J, H, asked the 
General if he wouldn't like to see Ghana and 
the Gneral said he most certainly wood. And so 
the three of us went over there and everybody seemed 
pleased with what there was to see. 

In mid morning, Alton's papa, the carpenter, 
pa9sed this way to say hi s' wife's auntie from 
Wichita was here and had expressed the wi sh she might 
see me for we had met before •. I suggested mid 
afternoon and the capptener, his wife, hi3 wife's auntie and 
3ome other lady of color passed this way. Before they had 
arrived, 1 had planted some wine and glasses among the gourds in 
the big basket at hana and so we moseyed over that way, had 
a little' drap all around and very pleasant chit¬ 
chat. 

The carpppter's wife brought me 3ome pretty verbeana 
plants for my old fashioned garden which I thought very 
kind of her and I think they will look 
pretty-pretty in aother row beyond the 
r zinnias, I might remark that I always call 
zinnias by their local name, —Old Maids, because the 





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aoee 


9907 


now 


9908 


Joe enry or Joe and Juanita A, were 
supposedly coming today but nobody has 3een themas 
ypt, the present time being 9j30 so I reckon 
he or they may have changed their plans, will 
come later tonight or tomorrow or next week or whenever, 
a regard for scheudle from that quarter having so 
long since been demonstrated as non-existent that 
nobody ever gives much thought about any named 
magical hour or day or week or month, 

I was mildly surprised that the Baton Rouge 
branch of the family last night were guests until 
this morning of theShreveport branch of the family, Ihii 
I never thought could possibly be in view of the 
hatred of Shreveport for BatonRouge and the stern¬ 
ness of BatonRou e toward Shreveport, -.1 suppose 
this is to be charged off to family solidarity, an 
exceedingly.vise operation always, I think, but 
something to which I could never subscribe for 
myself if, as in the family in question, the 
persondities jarred and jangled so violently, 

I suppose the a dvantage of x family solidarity may 
be based on.what can be accomplished in times of 
emergency when everyone sticks together to 
help haul out of the well which ever member happens 
to tumble in, Ihe family unit seems such a 
natural,neucleus for such concerted a °tion, As for 
myself, however, it seems to me I should much prefer to 
being a member of a-family of sympathetic souls,-close 
of kin in everything hut fmmily relations, people to 
whom I shoui always feel much closer than to 
ties of blood • But I’m su e I'm in 
a minority in preferring friends to family in 
times of emergency and in the present case of the 
Shreveport over-night visit, it would seem to me 
so natural to stop at a hotel that it would really 
never occur to me to accept the hosp tality of 
unsympathetic kin folks,. 

z' , -.1 n. 0 3: • »<ct' s' 

.Well, so, much for the end of this Sabbath Day 
and the close of the month of May, From the * 
radio reports of the national weather picture, I 
got the impression that the Northeast is 
h a ving a pretty week end and I hope it has been even so 
at Lyme and that there may have been a 
measure of leisure for little Miss tee,,,,,, 


~ - 

. st'i ■::: 
<4 


Monday, June 1st, 1959, 


Memorandum : 

A curious sort of a day, what with .the weather 
being exactly what it was supposed not to be and with 
things, supposedly adjusted to one situation, turning out 
to be inadvertently and much happier in the opposite. 

It was esceedingly sunny, hot and humid this morning, 

I worked mightily to get a few hundred gourd vines off 
the ground before 9 o'lock and the onslaught of the 
day Y s maximum of heat and I succeeded pretty well. 

On returning to Yucca, following the coffee hour, 

I found the artist awaiting me. It was her business 

to try to daub up some of the Grhana murals in 

hopes they might jell a little better, I worked with her 

for an hour when a dark cloud developed in the northwest and 

she decided she had better mosey home before the rains began 

but had not as yet completed the 8 by 12 foot masonite 

borad oh which she was then laboring, I told her I thought 

I could manage the thing by myself although the task 

was made the more difficult because the presence of fresh paint 

made it impossible for me to grasp hold with my fingers 

but I could keep the somewhat expansive spread in hand by 

not closing my fingers down of the edges, I <. 

put the thing more or less on my head, slanting toward the nap of 
my neck, traveling along the new fence from Ghana passed 
Yucca and continuing toward her house, 

A brisk breeze came out of the dark cloud and 
the 8 by 12 feeot expanse .made a Sail that came close 
to taking me off my feet but somehow I manged to engineer a 
safe termination of my journey, just as it began to 
sprinkle, * dashed from &er house to the 
Post Office which I reached just as buckets of 
water began descending from on high. About half an inch 
fell within a few minutes, tapering off into 
a drizzle that kept up for the rest of the day and it 
continues tonight, 

■ \s~- . ' 

J, H, sent me two carpenters and we spent much of 
the time together at Orhana, making crude wooden 
things to hold the curtain rods and later, aobve the 





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80C«5 


9909 


9910 


Tuesday, June Slid, 1959, 


beams, figuring out and effecting the be3t method 
to secure the murals to he rafters when the murals are 
painted, 

Once ortwice I had to leave Ghana to attend to 3ome 
business both at yucca and the store, and in going 
from thana, * passed through the gourd garden, dis¬ 
covering to my dismay, that the 11 o'clock gusts of 
the morning had blown down many of the vines on which 
I had labo ed at dawning, I got some back on to the 
trellises and hope the w eather will favor a continuation 
of the same thing in the morning, 

On my return to Ahana, the carpenters had xi dis- 
dpovered during my absence, the the PlantationSabbath 
mural which I had originally planted for the 
Eqst elevation had, prior to painting, got mixed up 
with the Land of Unde 1 om subject I had planned 
for the West elevation, T he carpenters, Felix Johnson and 
Clement Sarpip, spoke somewhat gingerly to me of this 
discovery and obviously felt vastly reliefied when I re¬ 
acted with pleasure rather than disappointment, for 
after the artist had bungled up the Sabbath, I was 
delighted to lparn it could thus be transferred from 
the East and more prominent position to the West 
and less notice a ble place, 

At noon, while we were going from Yucca to 
Ghana, Clement had told me that he and his wife 
and spent Sunday afternoon picking berries, —blue berries, 

I imagine, and that last night his wife had.put up 

8 quartet jar? , I had congratulated him on this 

laying in of provender, saying how nice * thought canned berries 

are and how much he and his wife would enjoy them next winter, 

Clement, a fewhours later, must have been surprised and 

relieved that I had taken the news about the murals 

so oalmly that in an unexpected burst of satisfaction 

with the world in general, he declared he was going to bring 

me a can of the berries on the morrow, I thanked him 

for the gift but, to help him retain his d a y's labor, 

suggested he and hi a wife keep all 8 jars together and 

that I would enjoy a dish of them the more sometime next 

autujjn when I would come by his house some evening 

and w e could all sit by the fire and enjoy them so much 

together. This seemed to delight him and•I must 

remember 1 have an autumnal appointment, 

, . • #v . r. C ' / , “? 1 1 ^ 

jIs for Joe Henry, he still liasn t put in an appearance, 
and outside the drizzle continues,,,?•••• _ 


Memorandum j, 

Cloudy and cool, in spite of occasional 
shafts of sunshine and dry enough by afternoon for 
the field hand $ to resume their .waving of wands in 
the form of hoes to eradicate grass in the cotton • 

My radio mentioned rain as obtaining today in 
__ the neighborhood of Lyme, I think of little 

Miss lee so often in cojmection with the, training 

of o helper and am holding the. thought that the assistant 

may lift some of the arduousness of the l a bor, 

Ihe more I see of the me.rchant-planter, the more I 
marvel at his ability to ma.intain a measure of gaiety 
when so many things at home and in the field must 
claim much of his thought • 

I. coffee-ed with Celeste only this morning. 

Madam Regard prefertng to. remain in bed until after 
9* Celeste is quite unhappy for it has now reached the 
point where she cannot realoly enjoy her card games in 
town because she finds herself, whenever the telephone 
rings, if it might be news that her mother isn t 
feeling well, Something has to be done about it, 
she pays. A nurse of some kind-is<. being sought 
to be with her mother so that this worry may be lifted and 
thus enable one to enjoy the bridge game without 
worrying whenever the telephone of her hostess rings • 
Knowing nothing as to. if hat sort of vocabulary finishing 
shcools teach, I wouldn t know if the word, 
hedonism, is ever trotted out or not • 

,> ;■ ,T.i o swi ios>V\,s isyts'-sv; **’•« 'oc... 

1 chanced to see Ji* H, at the store this 
morning and handed him a little sample of the molding 
is shall require within a couple of weeks for the 
hana murals, having noted on the sample that 130 
feet would be required • To my surprise this noon 
the molding was delivered to me at Tucoa and I marvel that 
H, transact^ business of this nature so swiftly 9 — 
a quality A,.J, Hodges certainly doesn’t possess • 



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01 w 


9911 


Mitchel, the axe, was drunk this noon when he drove 
a truck load of cotton choppers across the river to 
the cotton fields beyond the church • He drove swiftly 
and, on arriving, halted with 3uch unexpected 
abruptness that it piled up hoes and hoe-hands alike into 
a mass in the front of the truck, throwing some people out but, 
by some miracle, injuring nobody, although a near riot 
ensued because everyone was naturally enough provoked 
at such doings • 

But three people did not go to the fields, — 

Fug a bou, hi s wife, Maude, and Hoonie,_the bride of 
~ year or so back . -ftey remained at Fug a bou s house 
to. drink . Fugabou was taking his libations lying down 
and shouting at Maude until she got up and crowned him 
with a wine bottle, breaking the bottle and cutting 
Fug a 'bou so that J . H. had to send him to town to have 
his s calp sewed up • ?he doctor advised Fug a bou 
that if he didn t give, up drinking forthwith, he 
was bound to have a stroke • And so, on the way back home, 
Fugabou stopped long enough at the-honkey-tonk to buy 
another gall on of wine • 


But not apeep about a ny of these several matters at 
3upper by the merphant-planter, busy as a bee in speculating 
what life would be like for Mrs, Long who today signed paper 
for the Governor's incarceration in. a Galveston 
mental clinic, —once the Governor gets• out • 


The a rtist came to see me this morning and 
we went over the Land of Uncle Tomsketch I had chalked out 
at 5 o'clock this morning . Because of the color of the 
pencil and the material on which the stuff is being painted, 

I couldn't pee a thing where my pencil passed but 
apparantly the general effect was obtained, as I learned 
by having the artist point out the general lay-out, 
no so much to confirm my hopes that it was alright as to acquaint 
her more thoroughly with the painting job 3he has 
immediately ahead of her At the moment, she is 
so busy concentrating not.on her job but on the 
almighty dollar she is to be paid that I suppose this 
effort will be as full of surprises as her last but one 
.done,8 what one can and that is that*. I hold the thought 

that for this final mural she may for a little uihile 
concentrate while painting on the picture and not on 


9912 

r.ree 


Wednesday, June 3rd, 2959. 


Memorandum: 

Marvelous to relate, we have had another day 
wi thoutrain • 

But tyiere was almost moisture in the neighborhood 
of the tear ducts when 1 observed the latest efforts 
or lack of efforts on the part of the artist . 

j • 

It was either tears or an impulse to bat her and 
so I laid hold on another alternative and simply 
laughed instead • She has so thoroughly gummed up the 
Plantation Sabbath a that I know not if I shall 
ever be able to make a» ything out of it but I shall 
try although the thing is going to be a ba botch 
_ at best . There is a tree, eight feet in height, for 
example, designed to join at a seam to 
conceal said seam by.the trunk of the tree • One half 
of the tree she made four feet high and created it a 
pecane while the other half she made eight feet in height 
a nd made it a b a n a n a • Haturally when the two half8 were 
joined, it^looked like a linger midget grafted on to 
. a Cardiff giant, making no sense at all 

Tomorrow she goes on a frolic to twon with Pa and I hold 
the thought.that she may come back with a little more 
sense • Of the three sections comprising the 
composition, if it may be styled that, every single one 
of the sections having glaring errors and an utter absence 
of relationship, the one to the other • Tuely the ways of i 
impres8ario are strewn with thorns • 

I was glad to have a couple of helpers today,— 

Murphy and McKinley Brown • The .runners on 
. a few hundred gourd vines are growing at the/late of 
about a foot a night and you may -eadily imagine 
it doesn t ake them long tq get entwined down the 
pathways'•where one row isn t too far from the next . 

There was much corn to be hoe^t *oo> and 
...tomato plants to be staked up and vegetables 
to begiven additional light and air . — 
and all in the tf hana neighborhood while the other 


9 




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Thursday, June 4th, 1959 


Memorandum 

Sandroi ahea of sunshine and shadows all day and 
continuing humid and hot, 

I had coffee thi3 morning with Madam Regard in 
her room although she was dressed and sitting in her ohair, 
She continues frail, sweet and mentally active although 
her memory seems unusually short. 

Celeste 0 »d Dee had gone to twwn for a 10 
o'clock wedding ai d surely they-were allowing themselves 
cm pie time for they were long ince gone when I 
arrived at 9, They were,, going on from the Church to 
the wedding reception w hich seems to ithave beerv held on 
Oakland plantation, perhaps in the former over¬ 
seers house, I don't seem to know any of the 
participants , 

At 3upper tonight, J, H, mentioned there had been 
a car demolished on the Montrose lane but, fortunately, 
the occupants not seriously injured, . Two youths were 
in the car, —Randy Jack, grandson / Blythe who 
attended his High School graduation last Thursday, 

The otUher boy was a friend of his v also from Shreveport, 
named ?ulalove or some such, They were coming to the Rand 
camp when the car struck the end of the bridge, tearing of, 
car doors, fenders, etc on one side • 

it 0 • 1 

One can never get anything out of J, H, as to 
his participation in anything but I believe he was 
on the spot shortly after it happened and had the boys 
taken to the Natchitoches hospital where it was 
found that Randy Jack had not broken bones although the 
Fulalove boy seems to have had some sort of a head injury, 
I suppose the accident happened in mid afternoon, Perhaps 
I shall hear more a bout it on the morrow, 


gardens are left for themselves for a day or two, 

Late in the afternoon, thestore sent the artist's 
grandson to finish out his day of? labor. He 
is the child of Clyde Claude Dmmet Davis and Jackie, and 
therefore grandson of the artist, is a 
nice boy in hi3 early teens. He doesn't speak very 
distinctly and seems generally to be a child of mis¬ 
fortune, I feel sorry for him, feeling that he doesn't 
have too happy a home life, I was delighted when I 
saw him eyeing a pair of fancy shoes somebody 
had given me, spiffy ones with white soles, white eye-lits 
and laces on chocolate leather, t was 
obvious he thought them something that had 
somehow slipped out of Neaven and was so 
overcome with delight* when I asked him It if he 
iw uldn't like them that he nearly cried as 
he explained he reckoned he never would have money enough 
to invest in such footgear,, I hope the boy is 
smart qnough to hide them until honkqy-tonk time 
rolls round so that theartist doesn t appropraite them 
to present to Pa, 

Madam Regard did not join us for coffee this morning, 
Cele ste had two or three bags from Shreveport ax d Austin, 
having ac amp near Bermuda, who were scheduled to 
come for a tour at 9, following coffee. They j rrived at 
10 in the land of the lotus eaters where visitors 
always ignore time and only the lotus eaters 
try to stick to -an agenda. 

Today's post must have gone to Buckeye since there 
was no 1st class mail at all, which suggests tomorrow 
will shake out a double dip. This pleases me ps rfectly 
since I am expecting extra secretarial assistance 
on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and am glad 
of one evening without letters when, were I 
smart, I should do a column but probably 
3hall not because I feel drowsy already. The Long 
fandango continues, the Governor still in the 
mental clinic in Galvezton but probably still 
likely to run and win the impending election. 

It'8 wonderful what a charlatan can do with power when he 
has an electorate of numb-skulls,,,,,,,, 


The first of the three panels making up 
the final nur a l today • It seemed to be 
fairly correct, if a n a baenoe. of errors 
justifies such a statement, but thus far the 
thing has no grandezza aid I doubt if the other two 







9916 


Friday, June 5th, 1959 


segments could pull t ia one into o sunburst, assuming 
one were so foolish as to suppose the artist might have an 
inspiration when getting to them next week • naturally 
I amsorry that no 3park of genius broke forth in a ny 
of these but j content myself with the thought that 
they will lend a little color to the rafters and perhaps 
that will be jU3t as well since a "glory" 

developing in the Upper reaches of puch a little log cabin 

S s Ghana might be too much • one probably 

as no right to complain if the artist cannot get her 
mind off Pa and the possibility of investing her 
money in a new car, — a new old car, tout nevertheless, 
the f act remains that tim- in this chance to achieve a considerable 
amount; of acclaim for her work, she has simply missed 
the bus, 

lhe~ message from James Riley speaks for itself • 

It is certainly mighty kind o him to subscribed to 

the recorded Readers Digest for me even tluough 

the recording for sale of this publication for the use 

of the blind seems odd to me singe every 

issue may be obtained regularly and promptly from 

the usual channel . . The Harnesses at one time toyed with 

the idea of subscribing for me . but I advireed* 

against it since I was obtaining them from the Library 

promptly each month 

... f .1 • 

I must ask the local Library to send me a copy of the 
Hatches book by Robert Pischell or whatever the athor's 
name is, The qpearance of thi3 book on the market ought 
to let out fhefiocket '3 one time project on that 
subject but I reckon she has forsaken both book and 
article writing anyway, now that she has become a producer, 

I think she is extremely shortsighted in this matter, but 


Memorandum 


Cloudy and coil and misty all day, 

• 

Joe and Juanita are here until sometime next 
week. They seem to be just fine and are looking forward to 
a summer in Wyoming* 

Madam Regard did not bestir herself for coffee and 
continues frail . 

Much social activity swirls along and there is much talk about 
a day of frolic in Shreveport for the ladies . in calico who 
seem to be entranced at the prospect of wearing their 
Pilgrimage costumes to attend^ festivities for the premiere 
of the Rose oldier in Shreveport on th e 17th^ The 
frames Smithermans are giving some sort of a reception and other 
social big wigs are opening their g ardens in the afternoon and 
the tickets for the premiere are only fifty dollars a piece, w ith 
whatever profit to go to some local college • Why 
the ladies fall for such employment for publicity for 
the picture, I,know not but most of them, and especially those 
living closest, appear entranced at the prospect and are 
so eager for the day to arrive, 

Of course mother's health is delicate but the minuette 
proceeded, with the daughter of the Millspawe^ getting married 
tomorrow morning and a card game in the afternoon and 
something later, and while Juanita has declined everything 
to which she has been bidden, the other lady will let nothing 
slip from her grasp • 

• 

Jfrlythe and Joan came to see me this 
noon and to present many little gifts for Ghana, —Cape Cod lighters 
old wooden trays and the Lord knows what all, We walked 
over to Ghana in the mist and it was pleasant to sit there 
on the rough love benches and chat for a while. It seems 
that Blythe and Joan spent the night up here, probably 
making some preparations for Monday's picnic for the Alexandria 
blind, after which I shall give them a Melrose tour, 


I'm sorry James didn't make it to Pennsylvania or 
where ever itwas Kay wanted him to go with her but apparantly 
things are going along alright with those children 
and I m grateful for thatI have twice t w ritten him, 
recommending that he retain fhe Pontalb a apartment if they 
do buy or build in Baton Rouge for rents are t 
so comparatively inexpensive for people of their 
income bracket that I believe the annual rental would 
be less than their hotel bills, should they visit the city 







9917 


Sunday, June 7th, 1959 


At the coffee hour in he morning. Celeste had given 
Juanita and me some additional details about yesterday's 
q utomobile accident on the Montrose lane. She 
said that Randy Jack is such a darling boy and was 
so glad he had not bee injured badly. llaturally I 
told Blythe I had been sorry to learn of Randy's accident 
and she smiled and said that Celeste had come to- 
the camp yesterday evening to express her regrets which 
she thought kind but was puzzled by the fact that although 
she told Celeste severql times that it was not 

Randy but hi3 younger brother, Robert-, who had been in the accident, 
she never did seem able to make Celeste comprehend, as was evident t, 
morning when Celeste had returned to the subject of "Randy"'s 
accident, 


Memorandum : 

A mild week end, warm without being hot, cloudy without 
much - 

I. S. Willard called me- last night. She ha3 been 
a way for three weeks she said. She mentioned dining with james 
and thought he looked finer and exuded more gaiety than 3he could 
ev r remember. * She said Carolyn had moved to 5 11 St. Ann 
in the same block with the Registers■. She had missed Carolyn 
by a few minutes when trying to call on her and Carolyn had 
missed her by a few minutes when trying to call on I. S. W. 
in Baton^ouge. She said, —and I was surprised, — 
that Ada Jack Carver Snell is back home in Minden from Paris. 

I gathered Ada Jack preferred London to Paris. David Snell, 
her son, was having a baby at Boulogne-sur-Seine, which may 
account for the comparative shortness'of her stay, 
iifrO fcKo MltflKOP t- 

When 1 went across'the fence this morning for dinner, 

I found the h dy doctor there, having a look at Madam 
Regard. Deisree -was with her. When she came out, I 
asked her if she would like to have a pre-view of 
Ghana. She wanted to. On the way she told me 
Madam Regard isn t seriously ill but is 3imply tired 
of living. She asked me what in the world woul become 
of Celeste when her mama died. 

r J ir- 4\f &*** 

She 3aid she herself is working a wfully hard, i>#s buying 
back Her house and furniture whfch the Court sequestered 
to pay the indebtedness of Don in that Borden suit uhich 
lie must have lost, the Court taking all foint 

property. She said Don is in a disturbed state and she doubts if 
he will ever get back to rights again. She is so grateful in having 
Desiree. She said she thinks Ursula "Walker a woman 
of exceptional mental gifts, inclined to be a little sardonio, 


Doreatha, the cook, brought me some pumpkin seeds this 
morning, and so I planted them, in spite of the inclemency 
of the weather and this afternoon Alton's papa came to 
qSk if there was any w ork and there was. He did quite a few things 
in the Ghana area and when J told him I was so anxious to see the 
effect produced by the installation of one of the murals, he 
said he thought we could elevate one even though it is still 
damp and, of course, still unshellaced. And so we did put 
the thing, —the CottonCrucifixi on, up over the firplace 
audit appears to be sufficiently sketchy and crude to got just right 
with the crudeness of the cabin. And so I now have some notion as 
to what effect the whole iu mural instalation is going to produce 
and I m convinced it is going to be the busiest, 
dizsiestthing one is likely to encounter in such a 
compact space. i 

./ * A 9 

Blythe said that the Wenks ceme by the Ujhitfield Jack's the eveT. 






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81 W’ 


9919 


iscc 


9920 


Monday, June 8th, 1959, 


probably having had some withering emotional misadventure at 

huTiV V- °* her '-Ji h f 3ayS 3he 3hould like t0 3ee ™°re of her 
l, 3 °*J d Wlth l V P ractic e she gets to see nobody much , 
VhA Vi P abi J nts “ re T W'et and the family is flattened out, 
bhesaid she thought I was looking well, 

Joe and Juanita A. went to town to dine with 
rat and Juanita B, Over coffee cups, when J % H. had 
gone for a nap, Celeste told me that sometime 
during the past few months, Juanita A, had had 
her left breast removed. She got a nurse to stay with 
' her ™ther and went to the hospital withouttellinq 
anyone except her school spperintendent. t,er 

lecher associates, instead of s ending flowers, devoted the moneu 
to paying for the Purse who was with her mother. She V 

wrote Joe about the operation after she was out of 
• • the hospital and back teaching again, 

Ceieste was complaining about having to live in the 
country, 'The Millspaughs asked Celeste's crowd to 

K,°J aS j! f° ll01J1 \ n d the wedding, attended only by 
e family, but when one lives in the country one can't 
ever go anywhere or have any fun, 

t 1 - 

• On returning to Yucca-after dinner, J found ijwo gentlemen 

sent t hlm+i m b °+ h ° S V lem W ° rk for 01a Uae wk0 had 

sent them to Me for a tour, I asked after Ola Mae's health and 

that rV™ 1 3t l e ' Jas t tn %? volonteered the information 

that Carolyn was in Shreveort, having arrived 

Firday or Saturday, I asked them to say to Ola Mae for 

me r*l ha lh Whe i ? Hd V 3he 3ltouh 9et int0 the Natchitoches 

area, she migh give me a buss as I wanted to give her 

a* idea on a cook book. They said they wouH[ deliver the message. 

I h t0ld t he , m nothin 9 more on that score. What 

I have in mind is a cook book that could be slapped 

° iV 30 that the ^eing might be on the market 
by Pilgrimage time'. 'fy thought is to whip up pome 
local recipes under the title of P 

n Calico Cook Book 

of 


Memorandum j 

How nice to find the likeness of such a delicious 
little bavarian chyrch in today’s post. I thought 
it so kind of little Miss Lee to give me a glimps e of 
the swirl of life as it , goes on it Lyme and I always 
love post cards on at least two counts, —first, they 
do keep the fires of friendship and affection burning 
during interims when letters are unthinkable, and, second, 
a3 in the present instance, the provide pleasant imagination 
stimuli by suggesting ofiher special spots in the world 
which, if happily selected as in this case, do muoh to 
life up the heart, of the recipient. And so I liked 
today's postal from Lyme and hasten to recommend 
that little Miss Lee attempts nothing more lengthy 
than cards until things redupe speeed a little and a breathing 
space has been realised. 

Today was picnic day at the Rand camp although 
the weather wad~soWe thtng less thdf TThe best of that 
commodity for that sort of thing. 

Along about 8 this morning we had a thunder shower and 
about 6:30 we had a downpour, followed by hours 
of rain that totaled two and a half inches. 

Thinking Alexandria might not realise the skies were 
dumping buckets in tlii3 area, I tried to caj.1 Blythe 
to report but never could reach her. Then t I called 
Zelma and got Zelma's granddaugh er,Emile'ee Solomon 
who said Zelma was at the camp with MadamRand, 

... i - * • ' .• • 2 if.'8 - ■ uis t .. V 

.And so I went over that wqy around 21:30 in 
a mild drissle and found perhaps 30 or 40 people 
there, Naturally, we dined inside rather than under 
the cedars, t was dl very pleasant and I 
enjoyed all the poeplq I got a chanoe to chat with, mostly 
on the mature side. Blythe served an excellent punch, 











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Tuesday, June 9th, 1959 


and for the repast a plate for each guest stacked with 
a ll kinds of delicious sandwiches, a potato salade, olives, 
pickles, etc,, etc,, and slices of an gel food cake 
and chocolate cake and cookies on another plate with 
a half pint of ice cream in the middle, not to mention more 
liquids, etc,, and everyone enjoyed the conversation 
and the foodequally, it would seem. Afterward there was 
a little conference as to making the Melrose tour for 
which 1 had made preparations • In view of the quantities 
of water and-myd, however, it was decided that all 
wouldhemain at the camp and play games, before which 
I wg,s asked to give a little talk a bout the 
neighborhood in which many of the guests were finding 
themselves for the first time. I kept this on an informal 
level and tasked that I be interrupted along the way if anyone 
wished clarification or elaboration. I was happy when 
so many people did just that since it suggested they were 
sufficiently interested in what Hiey were hearing to want 
to explore point further. 

At the end, there were many additional questions and the 
little gathering tightened into a knot around the table 
where I sat so that additional points could be covered. When 
it came time for me to depart, one of the guests was 
asked to be accorded a hearing and then followed a very 
pretty little speech, followed by a presentation of 
gifts, all made by blind t guests, which had been 
brought for me. The thing I liked best was a 
sort of combination broom-mop, fashioned out of 
corn shucks. I suppose a couple of dozen ears of corn had 
been used, the shucks left on the very tip of each 
ear or cob, and theses ends o the cobs joined 
closely together, two rows deep and perhaps a foot 
or foot.and a half in length,, enclosed in a wooden 
frame, with the swish end of the husks forming the 
broom-sweeping section, and the whole placed securely on 
a conventional broom stick. I thought it both ingenious 
and attractive and it will, along with the other things, 
go into the Ghana house as typioal crude housekeeping 
utensils of the colonial period. 

; ■ », * • > «\ J' ’ , "{ • • 

ft took me a long time to get around to say goodbye to 
everyone, the whole gathering had been so pleasant and the 
people so delightful and. their gifts so touching. 


Memorandum 


June advances, humid but not so hot, thanks 
to prevailing showers. Within about 10 minutes this 
afternoon, another inch ,of water fell upon us. The 
lower half of the gourd garden was already under water. Now 
about three quarters of the place is afloat and 
so are the zinnias at Ghana and many of the gourds. I suppose 
the latter will*, all die if the water lingers on for another 
day, which it probably will. But I do not mind 
as there will still be lots of vines left. 

For days I have been intending to thank you for the 
clippings recently forwarded .• It goes without 
saying I liked them both. The Robert Frost 
idea of having a Cabinet post for les &eaux Arts is 
certainly an excellent one but something not 
likely to be created by ordinary politicians. I 
believe F. D. R. might well have brought one into 
peing and possibly a Nelson Rockefeller might do 
so. Surely the nation should be sufficiently grown up 
to recognise the valume of • such a department with C a binet 
rank. Had there beei) one at the time of President 
Grant, it would have been interesting to see his 
selection to fill the chair, the President who seriously 
opined after visiting the place that he thought 
Venice might be quite a place if they ever got it drained. 

I was so glad to see about the impending opening of 
the van Co^tlandt M a nor house near Harmon. I had 
not realised before that this was a segment of the 
greater Sleepy Hollow developement. There were 
two things in the artiole, one of which eludes me at 
the moment, suggesting there might have been a 
slip or a laok of clarity on the part of thewriter 
of the article, the re-write man or the lineotype 
worker^. A case in point was the statement in 






IIW ill ■ 

n 


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9923 



9924 



Wednesday, June 10th, 1959, 


reference to Sleepy Hollow "and" the Washington 
Crving home, in a text suggesting that these were 
separate places whereas, I believe, that Sleepy Hollow 
is a part of Sunnyside acr&age, Sunnyside being 
the Irving estate's name, t has been * 
so long since I have been in that neighborhood, however, 
that I prob a bly have forgotten the details, especially 
as it always chanced that people, less 

interested in such matters than I, were of the company so 
that I never have as yet really absorbed the layout 
in the way I should like to. 

Somebody , perhaps rs c Sam Hill, gave a 
party for Juanita A,,at the ountry Club today so 
that both Celeste and Joe's-wife were absent from around 
11 until 6 this evening, I'm sure Madam^egard 
liked that, for, as 3he explained to me yesterday, 
she i3 always so much happier and relaxed when her 
daughter isn t at home, complaining because 
of her mother's condition, she oant go anywhere, 

Pat and Juanita B, were down for supper and 
when, along r bout first dark, I went to look>for 
Emmet and Erwin, I could see no stir around, 
the big house or the one across the fence and so I 
conclude that the three sets of families have 
gone somewhere on a mild frolic tonight, I 
never did track down the ducks and hope the dog 
didn't finish them off. 

The artist becomes more hell-bent on 
painting something further in the murals than ever, 

I asked her this morning, before undertaking 

another panel, to paint in a background to cover up 

the gross errors she had made in three of the baptisin' 

pantels. Instead of painting in the same color as 

the rest of the background, a sort of mauve, 3he 

simply slapped in white paint in places as big 

a s four times this sheet, She simply can't get her 

mind off "Pa" and her proposed new old car, I 

shall attempt concealing these places somewhat 

when putting a coat of burnt umber on the panels and could bat 

her for her scatter-brain tactics 


Memorandum : 

Wonderful to relate, —it didn't r ain today, 

% 

The Joe H en rys got off around 7:30 this morning. 

They were planning to stop at Shreveport to call on 
kin folks, I'll bet they may have remained, for dinner, 
even though nobody likes anybody in 3Uch a gathering-as. 
that would entail, Everyone here seemed delighted when 
they fin a lly got off, For the sake of the others, I 
was pleased, too, although, Joe doesn't worry me so much as he 
seems to worry everyone else, servants and masters, I think 
he is as unbalanced as his youngest brqther and his sister 
but somehow his disagreeableness doesn t register with me, 
and, in all truth, T must 3ay he is always very kind to me. 

My day was inordinately busy but I took time 
off,a 3 usual at 9 o'clock for a spot of coffee, The 
session added nothing to my delight for the lady 
is feeling inordinately sorry for herself and banging 
her head againstthe inevitabilities, —her mother's 
advancing years, And you may be sure that as soon , 
as her mother has gone, she will be the longest and loudest weeper. 

Because of yesterday's rains, hoeing is at a standstill and 
so I found 5 or 6 slaves on my front gallery at dawning, sent from 
the merchant-planter who probably couldn t think of anything 
for them to do, I had lots of things, but primarily 
the cutting of a ditch to a drainage system to lef the 
water in the gourd garden and on the edge of Ghana 
find its way readily into the river. The undertaking 

was a success and although I shall do some more deepening on the morrow, 
I am tonight delighted that the water is fast receding. 

Everyone says the local cotton looks so much more free of 
weeds than so many other plantations, it is said the 
Magnolia is dishearteningly in the grass qnd that Mat, 

Hertzog ordered qat-ple turned into 100 across -of cotton 
fields because it would be.impossible to eliminate the 
grasq ^\thout ruin\ng the cotton. Perhaps the 
local management is to be congratulted. 






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KM'. 


9925 


9926 


Thursday, Thursday, June 11th, 1959, 


The artist still can't get Pn out of her perruke and 
made another botch in the Uncle 1 om mural today• 

She still doesn't seem to grdfts, that the three sections donstitue a 
single picture in spite of the'fact-that she hereself has lent a 
hand in making the sketches, All the rest of the plantation 
in the colored section who, from time to time at Ghana 
have observed the doings and listened to my admonitions all 
seem to .comprehend. It's a strange case and as soon a s the present 
effort, —the completing of the 3rd section of the 

Uncle 1 'om thing, I shall give her an opportunity to rest a little, so 

far as my work is concerned although she will be consumed with 

impatience and a dash of resentment, a ut I shall let 

her do her "mooning" about *at over the canvases of 

people like Dr, Talley and resume negotiations with her when and 

if she ever gets righted around again, 

ft will be late August, I reckon, before I have finished 
doing tricks with burnt umber to conceal some of her more 
glaring errors, a lthough some are such as to beyond 
the help of umber or anything or anybody this side of ff od* 

If I do not get this business attended to withinthe 

near future, the assistants I shall require to lend me a 

h a nd in elevating them to their final positions, not 

to mention taking down those already in.place temporarily, prior to 

the final finishing, the cotton crop will have started rolling, 

tobe followed by the pecanes.and that men a 2 n t5int untin January 

which is ridiculously long. And so I shall nurse along the artist, 

trying compassion over her muddled state of mind instead 

o^ batting her, 

I took time out long enough to accommodate with 
a tour some New Orleans ladies visiting a neighbor'8 
camp although I g a e up the time thu3 spent w ithout too 
much good graoe, 

he mailwas short whichis understandable, the weather all a round 
being what it is or has been of late, It is 
interesting that Joe, always approving of Saving an 
ancient building, approved of *hana when J, H, mentioned it 
to him but neither he nor J uanita A, ran over to ,see the doings 
at any time during their week's visit. Odd, isn t it?,,,. 


Memorandum j 

The second day in a row without rain, much to 
everyone's delight. 

But the weather situation didn't enchant me half so 
much as a letter from Lyme in today's post. It 
is so good to have all the news from that quarter and I marvel 
that little Miss Lee has somehow found time to "fight" 
the Red Riv^er campaign to its. conclusion, 

i.ofrs o . " 

In response to the request for a little more 
defliteness ps to .the location of Ghana, I shall 
jot down the names of a few of the buildings within the gardens 
p lacing each name within its approximate relation, —the one 
house to the other although the names will only suggest 
these relationships, for the distance from one building 
to another, as you know, must very much be-lie the present 
method of lpcatigtthem. As you know, it is cnly 
a dozen steps from, say, the African House ijo Hr, Miller's, 

.but it is a good city block from Dr, Miller s to 

Ghana, I had never given the matter any thought 

until this moment, but all the buildings in the 

Melrose gardens face South except the bindery and Ghana which 

faoe West, . . . 

I don't recall if I have mentioned the appearanoe of 
Ghana or not but about as good a primitive pioture of 
the building as one might run across,- outside the 
camera, is in your mural, —plantationWash Day, 
as reproduced in the 1957 Picayune article• It is 
the building at the right of the panel, with the 
pagoda-like roof and the somewhat unusual chimney. 

This morning, the artist telephoned to eay she had put 
the final daub of paint on the last section of mural, 

I asked her to come over to Ghana to patch up a couple of 
things' left unfinished on yesterday's effort. Tonight 
all the panels are. etaPdivg * bout i nQ-hana, drying—I hope • 





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riday, June 18th, 1959 


Memorandum : 

IV.e had a shower this morning at dusk dawn and ai other 
tonight at dusk dark • 

One commentary on/ the status 0 / the cotton 
crop at this bend 0 / the river is to be found in the fact that 
f^elrose hoe-hands are being sent to Magnolia to help that plantation 
in its grass chopping struggle • 

After spending te day on the end of a hoe handle, 
the secretaries mu st have dl be-taken, themsleves to 
the local honkey-tonk to see what they could do with a few cans 
of beer which, were I in their shoes, I should think 
an excellent idea • But one result of this reasoning is 
that today 1 3 mail is tucked away in the armoire awaiting another 
day• Wiere were a few letters but nothing of great 
moment, 1 imagine • A hurried turn through today's Life 
suggests that Uncle Earl gets some space and I must run 
through the article by "Aunt" Blanche • With Earl about a s 
disagree a ble as any of the Long tribe, the life of 
Blanche must be frought with especial unpleasantnesses 
these days, what with the Texas interlude cooking 
just in the offing and Blanche having signed the papers that 
put Earl there • 

I • . *>(» ^ 1 

I don't recall if I mentioned that speculation here 
as it that if Earl doesn t get out of the hospital 
in time to run, Russel will resign his Senate seat and try for 
the Governor's chair while Mayor Morrison of Mew Orleans will 
at the same time attempt to win the seat in the Senate RusselL 
would relinquish to have his go at Gubernatorial enterprise, 

And if Earl does get out and decides to run for re-election, 

Russel will continue to hold his Senate seat and Mayor 
Morrison will perhaps run against Earl for the_ 
job of Governor* Russel is too civilised to be popula r 
with the hill-billy voters and the same goes for 


with the humidity in the 80's, it will take them a week or 

two for complete drying, after which there will be 

the shellac period, followed by more drying and then there will 

be a season for applying some burnt umber to hide some of the m 

glaring defects, followed by the job of getting them 

properly anchored to the rafters, so it will be a while before 

I an through fiddling with them, 

While I think of it, I must express my surprise at 
news from that invaluable blue jay, °armen, who telephoned me 
to say that Urb a ch or however the local photographer in town 
spells his name, had just told her he had forwarded 
pictures, of Melrose, theAfrican Mouse, the 
artist before one of her murals, etc,, etc,, to the 
Cosmopolites magazine which is to publish a story 
on Melrose in its A ugust issue. Mow, what in the world 
do you imagine that is all about • 

I shall drop an air mail to the c osmoplitan 
tonight, asking for particulars I assume the 
August issue of ^osmppolitan comes out. about mid 
July • A 3 we. are approaching mid June, it would seem to 
me whatever is going to press , t ought to be 
in the hands of the Mearst enterprises real soon• 

. 

It was 9:40 when I put the-, period to the foregoing 
sentence. It is now 10:80, as I resume, following 
a prolonged chat by I, S.Willard, • 

She had been out to her plantation and had many 
things to relate concerning how the 
people were having difficulties with grass in their 
cotton, etc,, etc • There was quite a lot of details 
about Hodges Gardens r-etg,, but I didn't pay very 
close attention and I believe I rested my eyes 
a little during the interlude whic )} was proof 


enough of the old adage that there s no great loss 
of conversation without some small gain in 
re3t, t ' 

jtuiiroat ';ecl *>iW ho frlli .-a ,,0 6110b a 6- 

t hasbeen so nice having the letter from Lyme with 
so many more things to discuss and tomorrow with another 
opportunity to do so, ••••••••• 




From Che FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS* #M~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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9929 




Mayo Morrison who coul probably never carry many of 
the Parishes ou side the urban neighborhoods and so it 
is within the realm of ossibility that both 
theSenator and the Mayor might lose although, as of now, it 
is thought Earl could win, It Jias already been 
suggested that he might campaign on the grounds 
that he can t submit a statement by experts to 
show he isn t crazy which none of the opposition 
could display and this sort of reasoning-- among 
the hill billies would be just the right gesture 
to convince them that * their hero had a n incontrove rt a ble point,— 
and vote him in again, It s truly wonderful how 
1 thick-headed the hill billy voters can be, 

I tried putting a little order in&hana today by 
getting the mural3 where they would dry to advantage 
without cluttering up the place completely, In 
the midst of the doings, I heard a whirring sound from 
the , fireplace, indicating that chimney-sweeps or 
sw a llow3 were sampling the inside of the chimney and 
that I had better do something a bout it to discourage 
them I found a piece of tin that fitted very 
neatly over the top of the stack and so I could relax 
tonigh without a ny mi3-givings that there might be a visitation 
that, were it to take place, would add nothing of 
charm to the drying murals At the rate the cotton 
is growing, the airplane dusting will probably 
get under way within a couple of weeks and that will discourage 
the chimney-sweeps from lingering in this srea for the 
balance of the season, * 

• r, ■ -vW tour - aii: t sMoinavro' e •> 

I have just s tepped out on the gallery to see what the 
weather is up to. It is cloudy and only an occasional thin drop 
of rain falling, Ihis appears to be just right 
' to start off the fireflies on their nocturnal promenade and 

the b n mboo hedges are a marvel of vanishing 
a nd re-curring geometric designs as the glowworm 
lanterns move through the confines of b a mboo at the 
borders of the white garden, I had better enjoy them 
while d may, for the cotton dusti7\g will do them no 
good ither. 

And so a i other week end approacheth a nd I'm holding 
the thought it may hold a heap of pleasant things for 
little Miss Lee and her Lyme associates,,,,,,,, 


*•*’-■•* i 

s': 

Ot 


aM *r 




*\V 


'ill 

a* 1 


9930 


lew* 


Sunday, June 14th, 1959• 


• ns 

Memorandums 


»;> Ai rt« a» 
o Ai c s •. 


What a delioious week end* 




a 


ii; 

• eu\ Mi 


/ • 


• Am you have already noticed from the type, 
the postman brought me a small package from Lyme and a 
h rger, thinner one <-at the same time, which you 
may not hav noticed but whioh I have absorbed, to mention 

a grand lettet, long since a part of mo* 

3 re..y-{;.-n < 'U - natfVA. yfltrv .. • DST&'YC^aVifi «<• 

And how oan 1 begin to express my delight ever the whole 
business* *' 

%ti w> »«'. V ** 

I was sorry‘about one point only, to learn that 
the assistance you had counted upon has been so long 
delayed, ’Ihts seems to ■me so unfair all around and I marvel 
that you have kept going, what with the entire burden 
resting so squarely on your 1 shoulders* I hold the thought 
that by this note reaches your true hand, someone will have 

been provided to help carry the load* 

z ,v . ' t 

I noted your reference to the vacation being planned by 
your neighbors, this year without their little companion* 

I oan well-imagine that one of them, ltlfo ltttle Miss 
Lee, has an niiofc over-due relaxation coming to her and I hold 
- the thought it may be without adventure and brimming full 




iji>. 

Hi 

» fc •: 




hid* 


ai 

»U< 




Celeste ,S nephew, Dan Regard, was up from L • 3* U* for 
eek end and, as usual, he oame over for a little chat 


of rest and pleasant weather* 

' 

" the week . . ... 

with me before retumtng,and it was he who ftxed the ribbon* 

anao Inrcia^nSu i out a« r.-yrt -- ;*• 

About Q o'clock last night, when I decided to oc&l it 
. day, I collapsed within reach of my reading machine, 
l^ the package of the larger measurements in today's post in my 
hands* Without looking to se* whibh dtso oame first, 

■» • • I started off nth 0* Toyer^ Require and was altogether 

% entranced * as only you mey readily understand* Imust 


t i have been mote* tired than X had realised for X was 






an 


ai.*ti 1 


* perfectly content just to sit andtfrink' in the music 
ever wanting ;te turn o er the record on reach ng the 


without 
end but 









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9932 


9931 




Monday, June 25th , 1959, 


S'. oA 1 


■VV'rio 

. Old i~. 




quit* o*nt«nt t* play the tang side over and *u«r again, J 
thinlt you will agree with m§ that *n hearing th i« record, eugn 
a* in hgaring all the »th«r* # that the 2a«t »n« t# hand ta 
poaitivgly th* h**t« It ohano«d that th* «id* I toa* 
playing ogntaingd *n» •/ ay favorite pigoga and tt eeonod tg mg 
kg handled it with exquisite ekilll, —th* 

pigog, Cheriberibim, or hawavgr that namg ta apallad, 

' 

Finally, a/t*r a l*ny while, I aummgngd up oouraga tg 
play th* reverse aidg of th* di«o and discovered thara juat 
a* mantf #Id favorites a* th* rgvaraa holds and all ***r •/ th*» 

«• splendidly intgrprgtgd, Suraly Foyer ta thaartiat 
par «xo«22*no* and Sohoes of £taly, along si da all hi* 

•th*r things, will forsvar ranain my favorite, it 

i* «• pleasant tg think of you aa enjoying these items, too, ao that 
pleasure is really doubled therebye, 

On Saturday nominget 9, I was glad to has Madam 
Regard on the gallery, even t hough her hand* w«r« shaking as with 
Parkingson disease • Celeste, with annoyed little short steps, 
appeared in a /*w seconds, wearing a hat and serving her mother 
and me, explaining she had drunk her coffee 15 minutes before be - 
ca use See had promised to be here a t 8*45 to ptek her up 
to go *n to the c hureh where one of the Magnolia servants was 
scheduled to be wed, Quite furious and obviously seeing nothing 
mildly inordinate about it, she explained she wn* *• provoked that 
a telephone from ^agnolia had jnst announced the prospective 
bride had awakened with diahorrea and thew addingw as being put off, 
she knew not how long, in a manner to indicate she felt the 
whole thing had been planned to disappoint her, I think L had 
never heard of such a mishap for a bride and had difficulty in 
laughing rather than cry imp over Celeste's indignant annoyance• 

But finally Dee arrived and thetwo Indian sailed off across the rival 

Today Celeste teld me something most untoward happened in 

the midst of the ceremony, The bride, already shaken 

by her affliction, did make it to the altar and the service 

began, Weakened as she was by her affliction, she nearly 

shifted from panting to pjsssina out when a sudden flash 

in the dirdotion of the l 'hureh a, air conditioner, Jnst turned on. 


tic* »• 


• u* i.i - “ 


irud h«* 


shifted from panting te.fpssinq cut when a sudden flash 

in the dirdotion of the T 'hurch • air conditioner, Jnst turned on, 

dindieated the thing had. .caught fire •« 4ntiy ally there 

was a scuffle and th* blame extinguished and hew the bride fared duri 

interim, * know net. So the week endetb and so a new one begins. 


• » m, ~ mitwm uw vitw wwwn wit uv vii anu ww m nwm mum uwytnv, 

and my Saturday and Sunday have been perfect, thgiks to little Miss 


Memorandum 

Another pleasant day with d promise far at least five 
more from the Shreveport Weather Bureau and erne day only 
without showers frost the Alexandria' station. One inclines 
toward a desire for dry weather and so inclines the ear in the 
direction of *hreveport, of eourscw 

It is interesting to notice hew Governor Long in 
Galveston yesterday, probably unwtttingly, seemed te give 
plausibility te gossip coming this way en Friday, A former 
member of hi* staff teld « Parish man, well knewn 
to us, that Mrs • Long had been considerably annoyed by 
the knowledge that the Governor of late has been having 
eonething in $he nature of a romance, —a strange word applied 
to a Long, with * lady 85 years his junter, I dismissed this 
as sheer f***i» until the radio, reporting yesterday's 
doings by the v overner, —shouting from hi* 
hospital wtndow to reporters in th* street, that he 
was ne mere saasy thgt they and that hfs wife was the ' 

***t Jealous woman in the world, Sueh potformanqee 
ehouldn t help his habeas carpus sutt, * shouldn t think, 
for one thing, and at the same time tt certainly-would start 
gossip going, had it ne *Z ready been thriving before he 
made that statement, 

Of? o c o « i V V 1 ry .,** % •» • * I* » 'v 

Mrs, Slaughter of BatonRouge same to esc me thie morning. 

She and her hsbuand and their three children had been up 
to Oklahoma City, the doctor flying bad to atonSou e on 
bueineee and the children driving bad with their mother. 

She wanted the children, -~sort of 10, 16 and 18, te see 
little Mtse Albert's studio which the Slaughters are 
having espied as a guest house on their BatonRougo place • 

I like 41 the family and the children were the best mannered I 
have encountered in * long time. 

The artist sailed me at 6;50 this morning, explaining 
she had Just received her telephone btll, —,forgetting j 

that th* sail weuldn't arrive mush before 10, and asktng if 
she might have an advance en the pictures for Ghana she is 
to paint this week. She had borrowed en the some asset last 
* Saturday, toe. Pa is giving her such a run for her money that 
she always has a whole Jeb f 's payment before she gets going en it and 






From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS# #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


9934 


9933 


3T.W5 


Tuesday, June 16th, 1959 , 


•Mk is the ease this week, Oext week there will be ne werk end then 

she wtll try te berrew ageinet sene future werk end will receive 

• negative reepenee far, unfertunetely, she ferever keeps herself 

in euoh debt thet she is never a ble te pey b,ek bills end the 

stare, which eeshes her eld eye penesien cheek reperts thet 

she elweye hee the entire cheek speht up absu e week 

in edvenee ef its errival, X was particularly interested in 

her cry fer help en Saturday end this naming because whet she deesn't 

knew is thet I knew she did s beut 75 dellers werth ef business 

this week end free twe sets ef oustemers end they ere 

enly the enes I knew abeut. Pa nuet be having quite a fine 

tine with ell this neney in etreuletien, • 

Twice within thi past feur days, ny feverite Ueworleens 
Celunbfa Stetten', STL, failed te breedeest pre'grane 
because ef failure ef tape te arrive en tine, Lest week 
is was sene Veshingten speech, te&lght it was Invitetien te 
learning, 1 think 1 did net express ny delight ever lest 
week's'invitetien, —« diseussien efBenjamin Franklin's 
Autebiegrephy, I n etioed'they said nething a beut his 
in vent i a a ef the M ranklin steve en which he weuld never 
eeeept reyelties, eltheugh he had patented it± pessibly te 
prevent ethers free patenting end eelleeting, but X had 
fergetten, if r ever knew, that the sake night 
be said abeut his inventien ef bi-feeals, which weuld, 
if put threugh in the usual way, weuld have netted' 
htu m ether fertune, Sew remarkable that a self-made 
nan eheuld net havesuoeenbed te the usual tenptatien ef 
getters ef neney in that he was quite eentent te enjey the 
fertune he did aoeunulate vitheut any apprant destre te ge 
en deubltng and trebling, he Sbvteusly night ee easily 




I have re-read year inpresstens ef the Red River campaign and enjey 
it as nueh en the latest ge-reund as previeusly. Surely it is 
senehew surprising that Sherman eheuld have been denis tied 
in the Alexandrtu-Pinevilla neighberheed as head ef an tnstititten 
ef learning ee elese te the eutbreak ef the Civil War, I 
vender if that neighberheed a ill pin devh that peipt with 
the Civil War eelebrattens, new being prepared fer 1861, etc. 

And new ie ny be-leved dies ef Shakespeare tefere calling it a day. 


Renerandunx 

Anether levbly day, here seene te 
be an enbrye hurricane swirling in the "ulf but X held 
the theught we nay get ne sutre ef its rain than we 
did fren the late and unlasunted Arlene, I 
heps the air eendttten untt tn the apartment abeve Janes 
gets preperly rigged up be fere the rains return te 
the Crescent u ity and especially te the Pentalba, 

A lady fren Batehiteohes, femerly ef Sany, and 
well acquainted with UrsJ&ett, the Gevener's sister, ailed 
ne teday en a .Pilgrimage natter and had this te s my 
abeut the °e erner's sister. 

After having been in Galvesten with her brether, 
lire. Sett returned te Many and the next day dreve te 
the filling stetten she always patrenikes and erdered seme 
gas put in the ear, and burst eut tn eeneentrelable 
weeping. The staticn attendant telephened the leeal 
bank President, —•the bank the wtdewKffett's husband 
had had cental ef, and the President cane immediately and 
.dreve Mrs, watt hene. Then he telephened hts 
wife and they remained wtth Mrs, Hiett unttl the faliening 
naming when they dreve her te Sehunpert Sanitarium 
inShrevepert where she is new, aeeerdtne te the press, 
receiving psychiatrist treatment. Surely it is 
ene tee nueh te have a single member ef a family ge 
leeney and twe.seene tee nueh, Berne play gets 
mighty tiresene night fast and the **everner has, been 
dishing aat c a tiresene anaunt ef late b t X nentten 
this statue ej hip sister as an interesting eenmentary 
en the family. 

Hie ether sister, Mrs, Olive Leng c eeper, ef Batehiteohes 
eyed a rase bush, slap in the middle ef her neighber s 
lawn and teld the lady it sheul be neoed te 
the line dividing the Leng and the Leng'e neighber's 
preperty. The lady left it where tt was and ene day 
when she was ewey ,. Olive had it waved. The lady had it 





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moved book an her return, and the next tine ehewaa away, Olive 

had it neved back en the line a, second tine, This 

preveked the lady take had Olive arretted and it 

teak her brother, Juliut Long, a/ Shrevepart, te'get that 

ene straightens^ eut and the rate buth teoured in its 

ariginal paettian in the middle af the lawn, Everyane 

thinkt Earl etui be refloated by the hill btlliet but 

everyane at the tame tine thuddert at what he nay da, especially 

aut a/ vindietivenett, thauld the Texat judge turn him leate 

next Uonday, t 

I suppose I nayy have nenttaned tame af thete Lena 
bus nesses befa re, either ta yau er Janet, or bath, but 
I run the ritk a/ repeating mytel/ beeaute ef their tide - 
lights en eantenpaary perfamancet in the Galvesto n area, 

^ * ' }’ : • vJ 4*■ * £ MS a. .’jO '•» $ ‘ ».*'• 

The tun wat te bright auttide today, and • • 

the thadaw en the mm tel ef theGhana fireplace it pre/aund, 
that I wat really q uite turprited when then rtiat detlared 
later that the eauld make tut the timple little . 
eketeh 1 had made en the beard jntt under the thel/ far 
I oauld exeeute the tketeh anly by /aliening my pencil narkt with 
the index finger af my right hand and ta fallen thraugh, 

Telephane interruptian,. Did I nentian the 

board it perhaps tix inehet by abaut three feet and I 

put a pretty white geate ft each extreme, then tna mule drawn 

sdtton a arts, piled high, heading taward the' 

eenter, them at the very middle, a bale ef eattan 

ttanding an end, bearing the mark, * C, H, , a t in *• * 

Hunter, and an right and left af the ttanding bale are twa 
recumbent tnet and a man it sitting an eaeh, drtnking fram a wine 
battle, The artist eauld make it ante the declared . I hape the eon 
keep Pa aut af her hair lang enaugh ta paint it, at a tart 
af past script ta the Cattan Crueifixian tailing 
abave the mantel inta the rafters, • s 

\ ' . , f , ^ 'hJ ig . 1 ,y : ij 1 k C 

The 'phone inte rrupti an wat fram lira • Walker, 
wha, with husband, teems ta be narking at the office late 
tanight, She had heard the Cosmpolttan article it by 
ane af the Hartherji press petple, here, at Easter but dates't 
knew if the thing ta exclusively abaut Melrose er simply - 
atravelegue thing af the State, Perhapt a response fram 
the magasine will be forthcoming ta explain all . . 


Memorandum’ . , ~ « 

■ ■ . at tt A*. •!'.. . •■ . ’ . t '> ■. 

A pure Louisiana summer day an the brighter tide, 
with sufficient tempering east winds ta make tt teem lets 
than in the 90's, which is wat, • t 

• . 1 

I opened the Ghana dears at 5 a oleek this naming 

and a couple of hours later, when 1 patted that way, discovered 
the artist painting an the board Just beneath the 
mwKtel shelf. Far the first time since the 
started, I was altogether pleased with what I taw and the, 
herself, when the thing isas painted around 9, 
teemed ta be mare satisfied with her handiwork than 
t any time, shx since the be pan the Ghana desert. One faster 
in her eagerness to get going an the thtng and her 
satisfaction with it when completed it no doubt due in 
part ta the fact that the never before had thought 
* •/ decorating a fireplaoe «»d the novelty of the 
pee jest qi tokened her interest, v 

a»»6 bi« b£.u»oi - 

This afternoon, Mrs, Hairnet, who w rites rhymes, 
came, by appointment with her daughter, a mast attractive 
yauhg lady ef SO, The latter eketohes and liked 
to try her ct ails, She had asked if she might 

do tame sketching while the three ef us chatted, and »*■ 
of course it makes me difference ta me I •’■*■ 
suspect the mother may have a gesture up her 
sleeve, in application s/ my reference to her t» ? 
at exceedingly dull column a few weeks back, and ' ***'*> 

probably will be paying me back ip kind with a sketchy 
in physical appearance and in telephone voice, Mrs, Htlmes 
somehow reminde me of Ora but the similarity stops 
right there for, so far as I knaw,,nabady in 1 
Natchitoches except the lady doctor and Mrs, Walker, 
can demonstrate the brain power «nd the civilised 
qualities pcssetsgd by Ora, —a lamentable fact, ! 1 


I 


From the 


Francois Hignon Papers, ffl-3889 


_ in the Southern Historical Collection, 

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mm 


9937 




9938 


in a town fifteen thouamd • Even at, perhaps three people 
out ef fifteen thousand, possessed ef brains, nay be quite 
a high average 0 

Carmen 'phoned te give me tee lengthy an aeeeunt 
ef the E5 er 30 tewn ladiee who went te Shrevepert 
in their ealiee oeetumee te attend the Syidtherman's Garden 
Party, —why the big letters, I knew net* It wan alll 
pretty darling, 1 gather, with many ahete ef Jehn Wayne, 
Cenetanee Powers-or *ewere er whatever her name te 
fer the United Artiete camera men fer picture 
publicity, I auppeee* ft may help the ladiee 
er it may nnet, fer their Pilgrimage buainess* The 
inpertant thing te that eueryene eeene te have had a darling 
time* c armen and her party left tewn at 6 last eventng 
and get bach this naming about 3*45, but I doubt if 
4 I ef that time eeuld have been spent in the garden* 

■ • •. • t>. • • - ■ 

Tenight, the Horse HolideC premier wtll play te » 
caPaoity audiences, I auppeee, and perhape »“ 

tomorrow's newspapers wtll review the me vie 0 I 
believe it te scheduled far taw* presentation this 
earning week end* celeste asked me if I would be her 
guest te attend the Natchitoches showing but 1 demurred* 

I could probably make something out of it/were 
I able to try half a doesn't places in the theatre, eventually 
finding one that would give ms seme glimpses of what 
wap stirring* But that would, inconvenience my 
hostess vastly and so I simply declined, naturally* 
c* . i bun eveAe nnifrf l »*T£ •0& V> oi 

Seme of J* H*'s Monroe and. Mew Prisons friends 
passed this ten/ for a little leek at things at fust • 
the moment a secretary arrived and>*so I shall probably 
net get * chance at another kef ere tomorrow evening, 
although occasionally one passes thtsvsy eaii y in the morning, 
and if so, I shall run through what is in a letter from Ola Mae 
to eee what is cooking in that direction* I shall leave 
this, envelope open so 1 may insert it, and, if unable te 
do so prior to mail time. I'll sending it along 1 
with tomerrnW^wnl I *b *\ sna to _ 




utx>I srifr io.bo'iib 




I get the impression this letter is on the dull 
side but I find myselfgettigg sleepy, the hour being 11 , 
I 11 ht 


and 


hope te do better on the morrow« 


Thursday, June 18th, 1959* 


; aAoaettU &OU *1 .--*4 soi **« aui\ c $«**•**. 

Unjust »C bi«> • 

Memorandum 

Another day of full summer and the promise for the ■ 
same on the morrow • But, unlike se many previous 19th's 
of June, there will be no pienie on the bayou Brevelle. Instead, 
everyone will labor in anticipation of tomorrow night's waking 

and the late Johnny Williams 


use 


ef Dersay Creighton, the late Mattie and the Mate Johnn 
sister* the festivities will Place at the family 

eabin on Little Hiver • The children are putting the he 
to rights in anticipation of a huge crowd and are screening 
the gallery for the eenvenienee of many a soul Mho 
will probably remain all night # After the funeral • 
on Saturday, the children, teen agers to the 50 's, will 
go their several ways and probably never return te the place 
so long their hone, for they all know that their mother, 
the main pillar of the family, had long suffered from 
a heart ailment and .that their father, whe had sometimes 
run off sons of them with a shot gun, had severely beaten their 
man* on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning, the 
lady dying during the Sabbath morning Moating* Obviously 
the father has been insane for years but »• one has done much 
about it since he M«n t the Governor • Smile • And 
se Dorsey probably has already been assigned a prominent seat 
in Heaven while her children go on their several ways and their papa 
wtll linger on until something happens that isn t passed ever 
so lightly* 

J . H* 'phoned me from tom this morning aroxm fhP^ucon m 
Sr50, saying he had been looking over some fine refrigerators 
and had found one large General Electric and one nedtWn aimed 
one and he wondered which I should prefer* . I was qutts 
satisfied to have the medium si sed one end Lot before 
I had finished a letter that seemed important, although, for 
\o ******* ^o\ a 


(U £$& 6«ib ■$, 
tfitol be* Mt 


el 


:U« 




Lion 


1 *•»♦••••< 


TfcbUS 














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9939 




the life of m, I ••n't seem to recall what it was r bou er 
t* when it was addressed, half a dosen wen appeared an the Yucca 
gallery, hearing a fine new tee hex, It was unpacked tn a 
jiffy and plaoed preperly and plugged tn, And ee tentght 
I shall he hevine toe egatn, straight from my little, faithful 
eld tee bucket which, for convenience, I filled with cracked ice 
this afternoon against inroads I shall he making on 
the beverage department tonight « I passed by the 
at*r* this noon and paid for the machinej having been anticipating 
this investment for some time, ■ 

I took the opportunity to ask that electricity he installed 
at Ghana* This supriccd J* S,, as he had assumed it was 
already wired and said he would have ft taken care 
of forthwith, and then got <fn hie ear and headed cut for 

Uonroce Lrt»»u\ 11a Mliaftn* 

/ Helen M ullook writes that the national Trust would 
/ like.: to have photographs, preferably color slides of Tuosa 
end the hapel, Of course, ths R oeket has plenty 
of trans areneies on theee two subjects, but whs wsulde ver try 
to match up with the Bosket Ur* and Mrs* Trank Claphor, one of 
Smithsonian, the other of the D* A* B, Museum, wtll be in Hew Iberia 
shd want to see Tucsa* If I give the go-ahead signal, they 
will telephone me from Hewlberia where they will be for 
a week, What week, the Trust secretary did hof’ mention, 

•Y.->*»& x. j usaf v '&iios% ijtsi » ‘ *•:. 

I had an unusually busy day but got 25 minutes respite 
this »••» when I teak time cut to ftddle with turpentine, crimson and ye 
oil paints with « view to guessing at the proper ssltr 
that may be produced when thts brew ts mixed with a sufficient 
amount of white paint to be used on the Ghana doors which 
* 2 should like to get just the right shade of pink tc bring out 
the maximum cf ptnk~ishm*ees in the scud chinked in 
between the logs, . Yesterday's attempt at drawing in the dark with 
my left hand and remembering the last night by keeping my fingers 
•of tfie right hand as point, ofi departure is one thing but achieving 
a desired shads for sighted folks on the part of a somewhat 
color blind amateur ts really something else again but I 
hold the thoueht the effect may not be too bad when 1 get around 
to slapping the stuff sn the portals and under the shelf of the 
fireplace mantel. And now for a go at the mail and then 
another go at some teed tender leaf ,*• 


Memorandumi fete Friday, June 19th', 1959, 

. •. i A . o I - ' i< ' t ■ 

I haven't heard the Weather Bureau give the precise 
hour at whtoh Summer will make her official entrance but 
I shouldn t be surprised to learn she arrived on the 
19th instead of the 81st, what wtth the perfection of the 
summer s day which was ours, and JL 1 thts followed by d 
perfoet June night with po end of moonbeams and Serenades 
from my old friend, the moektng btrd, in the whtte 
crepe myrtle and the fie flies busily chasing baok and 
forth in the bamboo hedges, 

y,ibW tit -mu si i-i t s\ e 

I got qutte a kick out of the* information James 
passed O.eng in his letter, —the Biohard-Booket 
Productions, This latest piece* cf inf creation somehow recalls 
to mind that Governor Long achieved Something of a record when 
he occupied a place in three different mental establishments 
within the. space pf two days, . s > 1 

\ • . i t>iU- Ki et s&o njn*\ \c *■ -owA*" 

I an wondering tec about the statue, of the Hodges Garden 
film and the Hatohitoehes sequence that supposedly was tp be 
shot now while the crepe myrtles #n Front Street are in 
flower, the Library A'ssooiatton film which Eseae Mae and 
the Bockst indicated was to start turning tn April or 
early May, the Wild Life film Ola Mae mentioned in t 
,her yesterday's letter and now the Heux Quartter ftln 
James reports today. Either bus ness ts booming 
orusomebody has gone Long on us, and, for all I know, 
it may well be either both or netther, 

ok yi ti'.is on'ilmse x-edt Btr.aBtr.q f 

J. must gonfess I find something at ones funny and Sad in 
the ocket's ssrecr, —funny beoause it doesn t make 
sens9 andsad because it is always depressing'-to witness gosd 
trains being frittered sway, «• $ 

\0 ettli'T to **Uitt08BBt. ! — $ 

I,wrote to Helen Bullock, reebrnnending the £ , 9 bet's 
transparencies of Yuoea end the Chapel, gtvtng the Hew 
Orleans address but being careful to s ay that! dtd'noi 
know tf the u ooket was at 511 or ion location arid that if 
she failed to get a satisfactory reply, she nipht 
advise me and I should east about for another Source, 
here was just a suggestion of a el am within the velvet 
glove tin lift fa statement,for I sent espies ts 


■Friday, June 19th ; 1959, 


, , «r. 











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Sunday, June Slot, 2959 


Hew Orleans and Shreveport, addressed to the Rocket, 
el eng with a liens t Outlining the Rullock letter and 
giuing the address of the Hatiennl Trust, 
y- / f>:, ■ i :• . i ns.'i e. : ~ •• ' ■ “* ■■ : ' ' ‘ 

If, within 10 days er two weeks, the Ghana murals 
have keen shellacked and elevated and if, by then, 1 have 
heard nething fren the ooket, I shall suggest 
te the best photographer in town, —Gillette, that 
he night want te tak.e sene pictures on speculation, beth 
in eeler and blaok and white, for which he weuld be paid, should 
Warren use then in an article pn Ghana, I should 
prefer Carolyn's werk, fer it is undoubtedly the finest 
on the narket, but I do not propose te watt tec long 
for her to round up a few more, films to make while 
I an attempting to do a little work on ny own. hock. 

The Lett Word's "we* nay er nay net have referred te the 
possibility that she and the *ocket night be down this way 
"within a few days". On the. other hand, perhaps the "we" 
referred to one of her associates in the Advertising Hart, 

One thing is eertain, both the Rocket md the Lost 

Word have cried "Hf, wolf" once toe often and 1 haven t 

the slightest intention of counting an the appearance - 

atTuoca ef either one or beth and I'm net delaying-, beyond 

a reasonable tine the prejeets I an initiating and 

whieh, * believe, weuld be both interesting to k 

then both as projects md remunerative as to compensation, 

X .. «f IB 0 % r R E C • • • * *• * • 

I plucked a bushel ef grandiflora magnolias before • 
tun -up this morning, putting then beyond the reach ef the sun's 
rays to preserve their crispness, sending then to the 
wake on Little River tonight a bout dusk dark. The 
artist who declared she was going to-mgke a round, whieh 
I somehow doubt, cane for materials for a*-bouquet and 
left with a somewhat odd asaarintat of things for 
a bouquet, —oape jessamine, crepe myrtles of watermelon 
hue. Switch Gene, day lilies and gardener a garter. Several 
gay young blades have reported to ms the bust ness of the night 
ahead, —the wake, starting at dusk dark whieh they all will 
attend, the swing-out at the henkeytonk back here 
beginning at 9 and.lasting until 1, after which 
they will all return to the L ittle River wake until 
damn • s , U9 y 99 it all sounds so mueh like • 

Richard Rocket Production with emly the funeral left for the morrow,,. 


Memorandum 


.ull.summer, even as the weather bureau declare . as of 9-SO 
for its arrival date this.morning, t J 

. If. ?iV', 5 . V.. ■ •. >.,J . i.u V. vu -•V'U* i 

... anoIaaUPt from one Hubert Luaas speaks for itself, II guess 
although I haven t been able to find anyone to read it 
although several -people, free, white and over 81, have 
attempted its deciphering. The-letter wee posted in 
San Antonio ^at 22:30 an Thursday and reached me at 
20 a»*« an Fridcy , which is speedy enough, especially 
as it was addressed to one F, Hinon, Hatohitoohes, La, I 
had a San Antonio long distance call an friday night, 
requesting a Saturday morning interftiew, whioh I could not 
grant, I suggested Sunday at 8, and he oalled from some place 
at that hour, explaining he had a flat, and arrived at 4:45. ooinq 
next door, naturally, not knowing the place, Tn, wa e 
na^inf and much deranged",, Rut as I had an appointment, — 
fiotionaly, —at 5:30, we had a pleasant half hour. He seems 
like a nice person, hailing from H 0 rmandy, and returning 
to Europe in September, The people who recommended me to his 
attention arp quite unknown to me, some Professor and 
some John Hankins, neither of whom I ever heard of, so 
far as I know. But that doesn t m tter, .He was 
a nioe person and if he wanted to drive for hundreds of miles 
to see me for 45 minutes, —he was returning ta. the base 
an leaving here, -v it is alright with me, 

M- • >\ Uluutis.a r-M i&’Of 

3-' ) a" eaib cl eaJi \ a 

I seemed to have quite- a few people an .--tV. 

Saturday, two or three sets of men who had come from''' 
various places K t» consult with J, R. on electricity . cotton 






I 


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9943 


A half hour,before sunset on,Saturday night, Zelma 
'phoned me fram her house, saying that Madam Rand 
would be happy if I might csme o >sr and spend the evening 
at the oamp. I enjoyed the little wak aaress the 
oetten patch, remarking that this week end must have 
abeut the lsngest daylight heurs ef the year, what 
with the sun rising at 5:08 and setting at 
7:25 . 

Blythe had Jean Frants and Mrs, Johnsen, Dr.Rand's 
ene time secretary, with her. 1hey were at sards as 

I arrived but these were put aside far general 
chatter and feed, including seme marvel fresh peaohes and 
heme made ice oream. On arriving, I Had lied by 
saying I was expecting a ,leng cjiatano* call at 9, and made 
the mest ef that by repressing the oetten patch by 
meenlight at precisely that heur. 

» - , f AAfio ! * . . y M . v « • 

typical ef Mary Pringle was a remark Blythe queted frem her, 
as having been made when she and Blythe were here last week and I 
failed te see them. In geing threugh the geurd garden, Blythe said 
Mary had paused where the lower leaves ef the vines had been 
brushed against by the endless walking threugh the central trellis, 
exclaiming .that somebody must have been whipping d$wn 
the vines. Mary woul always find something unpleasant 
to attribute to a human being, matter what aspect of nature she 
might encounter. 

>•! |.1 v *■* ’, 0 ^ . . ‘ -< *' • * '' • ' *- * '* w * 

Zelma 'phoned me again this afternoon, inviting me to dine 
with the ladies tonight but 1 declined, what with having Harr 


Monday, June 88nd, 1959• 


Full summer, o ven as the calendar suggests but 
weather reports out of Mew Tork, severing the country generally, 
suggest we mighc have rain which we did net, "Fort Worth 
had 7 inches ef rain teday and there was rain generally slang 
the Gulf States area" which seems as theugh 
it might have dampened us • little but it didn't. 

* 1 ' | ’ ® Wit" 

Ihe silliest thing I have te report is a summer 
set of sniffles. One or of my colored friends seems to 
havo been having colds and mine caught up with me last night 
but I got pretty good results frem seme sert of patent 
medeeine pills and I am not inconvenienced by the die- 
temper. . \ 

I passed by the store this morning about 6 and was 
mildly s urpised to see half a dose n tractor drivers sen- 
verted into secretarial assistants. They seem to have worked at 
their job of inserting form lotters about Valley Sleetric voting 
next Saturday into envelopes. I believe abeut 
twelve thousand of these are going forward by mail 
•n the marrow. 

io\, ruise^h •» 

I am glad that J, H. appears a little dubious .• bout 
the slight if any effect suoh communications will have on 
the htll billies gho will reoeive the greater aim her 
of them. I haven t seen any of the letters 

as yet but * shall, send one along when one eones te hand. It wi j 
be interesting to see hew one convinces with a letter • hill bi j 
theory generally ist "Teu cheated me today, —what will you 
give me tomorrow", Operating on suoh a premise, the 
hill billy would probably prefer geing ahead and letting another 
hill billy oheat him teday on the 


operation means and how it is maintained by offioals rtf 
aren't hill billies. 

My guess ts fist J. H. will net win in Saturday's election but 
I hold the thought regardless that he may.and I esrtainly hope he 
does. >o .tv 










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9945 


Tuesday, June 23rd, 1959 


With a /2aad a/ sunshine obtaining end the thermometer 
standing in the 90*8, we needed at assurance that summer was upon us 
hut we get anether sign regardless, —the initial dusting ef 
the eetten by air late this w evening, The planes teamed hack and forth 
ever a n heur and, te my surprise, seemed ts frighten my sat whs 
was Just having his supper an the /rent gallery, Purely the 
animal must remember previeus dustings when the planes Just 
cleared the tree-taps hut he eertainly sated as theugh seme 
frightful bird was aheut te peunee an him and at sash appreaeh, weuld 
scamper te caver. Emmet and Erwin were abroad and I neticed 
they weren t at all oeneemed and sinee they were likely te gabble up 
the mat's supper before getting their awn, if the cat didn t hurry 
up, I finally steed aleng side the earn muffin ■■ 
end the saucer amdx ef milk and se leng as I remained 
hard bye , the eat suomened up oeurage te ge ahead but as 
seen as I weuld withdraw, se weuld the oat, He will get his 
supper after the planes have made their rounds tomorrow night and 
the birds which usually da a clean-up Job with the crumbs will thus have 
te be tgiven their hand-sut earlier, 

,- . ■- •• • • 

Mies Holmes came down at 8 this afternoon to dm some sketching 
and seemed pleased with the progress she mads, d he should have put 


If erne randum : 


A half inch ef rain at 11 this morning and another 
shower about 8 130 this afterneew. 


I can tseem te think why I have been se busy today, 
but busy I''seem te have been, 

5; 5 Ji't .) - e ■ ' •; : V,* S. ■.* 0 ' : i c *.-1 ' ,-2 0 i 

I decided, among ether things, that it was high 
time the murals should be given a seat ef shellac 
and I began on then, Theft were as dry as tinder and 
everything went aleng sedately enough until I struck 
the Ctttem Crucifixion, —the first one aba bad attempted te 
Paint and therefore the one most seasoned. Picture my 
consternation when the black figure on the cross began 
showing streaks of whits. Too aueb of something must have 
been used in the white cross, hence the startling 
mulatto influence. Well, I get rid of the white streaks 
as best I. could and went ahead with the balance ef 
the rafter decors, I wanted seme color in the 
rafters and that is Just about all I get, I 
was particularly impressed when 1 netted in the 
Land ef Uncle Jim s dene that Topsy . who was supposed to be 
carrying a petted plant to Little Eva, it shown heading 
out tm a vertiele direction . a geese with a rooster's head,— 
my eld friend, the "gsee ter", pinching at Topsy which 
in view of the direction Topsy is taking, places the geometer 
slap ey his back, a strange position for any gander to be 
attaekinga young lady in the seat ef the pants. 

It ws my intention te get the thing properly 
coated with the shellac today in order that I might 
do something about concealing come of their more glaring 
errors with subtle applications of burnt imbat’, 
suggesting both age and shadows but the sight 
of the gooeter upside down persuaded me that I would 






I 


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r 


9947 



9948 




i- let the denied things a tend Just ea they ere end if anyene 
doubts they arc primitive, they will heve te be mere doubting 
then I end hew they will explain the goeater, 
ea large ee yeur hand, upside dawn, I cannot inegine* 

, " •' • *••**•* 

I eeffea-ed with beth lediea thia warning end learned 
thet Celeste had been enchanted, with the Herae Seldier, 

•laiwhich dee an t exeetly duplicate the re-aotien Jamea 
n ?>seemed te experience • . 'si - ' • ■> 

I don't knew why- 1 ,wea wildly surprised te 
, learn that ley wea beet r in t he Crescent City * 

It suppeae James way heve wentiened the date ef her 
expected return 4m seme recent letter but 1 hed 
forgotten. I hed x net heard frsm her simoe my birthday, 

I guess, end hed nearly written her et The Bluff 
i ten Sunday lest pest, but fortunately, wrote te 
Aunt"illie instead* . • :wV 

ia . Ha •• -.At r.i> st&J ...vt 

::i^ wea diaeppeinted en B endey nigh lohen, wii}heut 
c.r. explenetten , Invitatien te earning failed te 
■appear eg its eecustewed frequency » I must 
.< confess, however, phet I wea fascinated by the subatituien 
which wea Bleir Clerk with e half hear pregrew oevering 
t his visit te Ghana lest winter end lets ef ■' 

tape recordings taken there at the time* I gather 
.that the birth pains ef nettenelism in-Afrioen ere 
likely te be prelenged end eenfusing as the hundreds ef 
independent tribes try te move in .the direotien ef 
• Federal State• The feot that the redte ® 
has te breedsest in et least half a deken languages 
t i# get its message asress te even a segment ef its in- 
habitants, *•inhabitants ef a angle Stats, tb 
is- perhaps indicative ef the super-human job ? • 

lying ahead fer anyene attempting the establishment ef a 
ceuntry. I fereseee generatiens ef dictaterships, mere 
cemplete than the Seuth American variety and ne end ef the een- 
vulatena attending the formation ef almest any pelitieal 
unit. In the mean time, * m geing 
te enjey an Italian Sehe by Teyer, leaving Affiea 
te shift fer itself tonight********* 


Wednesday, June S4th, 1959* 


At* »vu 1 ..jv ■ 

iaAS *ut ei.' a-r zl a * 

Uemerandumt 

e 

Anether summer's day with just eneugh hint ef a 
apr inkle sreund 8 thia sfterneen te seel things 
eff delightfully* .a-x 

The talk about the subscriber's meeting en 
Saturday, the R* E. A* users, and the impending eleetten ef 
efficera fer the ensuing year, remains the big tepis e 
cenveraatien* I get much ef my baeis briefing frem 
the newspaper effice and am told that seme ef theas 
planning te attend Saturday's pew-mew are giving theught 
te empleying bedy guards, se tense is feeling meunting* 

I hepe things den t reach such a pitch,but when dealing 
with hill billies, aingley er en mesee, yen can antistapte 
whatt 

Abeut the time I ever ru» into Leuisiana news is at 18:30 
and this neen I didn't hear the latest wrinkle in 
the Leng business because ef a telephene oall « Everyene 
new thinks Earl wtll bd eut ef the mad heuse even before 
Frida, the date eriginally set fer the habeas oerpus hearing* 

The telephone call was, frem di peeple, and I knew yeu 
will hav difficulty in believing it, —the Racket, -cut 
ef fJatchitechcs* 

It is curieue hew few queatiens I remembered ts 
ask, as sheer oeurtesy* I learned later frem Carmen . 
that Carelyn and her nephew and cewis up frem the Seuth 
last evening and were havtng. the car werked en* I heard 
nething a beut the ear and naked nething as te plans ef 
arrival er departure* Carmen said ehg leaked wonderful and 
she aeunded in a very happy frame,ef mind* x ■ ' 

Perhaps ene reason for the oall was te stats that she 
expecting te return en Saturday to confer with Carmen about 
ladies In costume fer the Batchitebhes shots she will make 
fer the Hedged film within 10 days* There was much talk 
a beut quick aheta ef Cane B iver high spots and, then later 
did fer anether film, mere prelenged shots fsr 
ef l/elress* - - ; ~ 


9 



Francois Mignon Papers, #M-5889 


9950 


Thursday, June 25th, 1959 


She said she ie net retaining, has sL ready dispensed 
with the yeung man whs accempanied her te t/eio ((ark fer 
the film expesitien, He is geed in his line hut that 
line, —wake-up, primarily, is net required so much 
in her present undertakings, A certain Chicago student, 
ene Richard Kalenberg, whs believes in ce noentratiens oanps 
is in the South, deing research en Civil War matters, She 
may seek his assistance in certain research 
matters, • 

he Wad Life film hasn t gene thre ugh as yet hut 


Memorandumi 

* 

Sunshine and cleuds, heat and humidity and tee much 
te de te make any sense out ef anything, 

When I went te the s tore a round 6 this morning 
te see aheut getting a oouple ef carpenters, I asked J, H, 
if his nephew, John W e nk, had spent the night here • He 
said he didn't know, I had seen a light at the big 
house and had assumed it might he John* He did 
net appear at breakfast hut I learned from 
Celeste she had seen him for a few minutesa round 8 
o'clock • He w as heading hack te Hew rleans and the ship 
en which he ie working this summer , He will 
matriculate at Centinary Callage inShrev pert 
this autumn fer pre-ned, and after a couple ef years will 
go to Tulane or seme such, the Centinary school enabling 
him te live a t home « • 

•, ; . arc o fcajjiMoybo si 3 i \i toft 

He told Celeste that his brother, Lloyd, was already 
back from Wyoming where he went to work during the summer 
in a motel or hotel or seme such, He thought he would 
get a olerok's job but was offered c a bin attendant, a 
job which Celeste's nephew, the Regard youth, had 
ay ear or se age and,liked and made mueh money because 
ef the tips, Lloyd had his heart set on d clerk]s job and 
se preferred te return to Louisiana tf he eeuldn t get one, 

John was on his way to Hew Orleans b efore 9 and I never 
did see him, *' 1 ? ' ; 

<v«i« fli is iuurtt x onwiv tosW* 

I get my cappenters and set them te work 
on elevating the murals* I showed them the way J should 


jrqroi/Nttx »| »r*u a mtruib uuy ibw uc vf ate a 090 no 

to have been lost, She wants to do film for 

"arren, I asked if she banted to send trarisparaenoies to 

la*ullook. She had not reoeived my letter on this matter. As I 

h a d written it in duplicate, sending one jsopy to A 

Shreveport, the other to Hew Orleans, I asked , 

where I might write when such points arose, with arruanoc 

the oommunioation might renoh her, ,Ur, Hodges is greatly 

grieved by hie wife e death and isn t functioning 

as formerly. She and her nephew will be back in town 

enSaturday ai)d will get down to do the &hana pictures but 

if she do sen. t make it enSaturday, 3 he may make it tendays 

hence* K So ran the-conversation and that le a ves everything 

about where it was and the * 0 cket is still the"eskst, gifted 

with talent te the nth degree and oursed with a lack of 

dependability that just .tout cancels everything, it seems te me, as e, 

new, '.9 ■ ■ • 

nAt ae%\sfl *««o Vjiu 

I had, expected carpenters with the dam but none 
di owed up, 1 asked about the point en d supper and 
was assured by J, H, that I might hah a couple for a few hours 
en the morrow, •—X hops, 

B y chance at 8 *30 tonight, J stumbled on to 
Invitation to Learning, --Hamlet, —and drank in every 
word of this great Dane who failed utterly because he tried to 
set the naughty world atight* ; s , 

trying to sell a couple 


xpectsd carpenters with the dam but none 
1 asked about the petnt end supper and 

— - " ■ ' V • • r *o,„U f.r a 


The artist came to sSc me, trying to sell a couple 
of perfectly splendidly executed pictures on eirdbeard and I 
could have batted her at the sight ef such fine work on transitory 
material when I contrasted the un^ue oppertun ty on geed _ 





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9951 




I «a enclosing a copy ef the letter and aocempanytng 
statements J. X. mailed ts all B. E. A. su ssrtbere, 

.There is seme msntisn ef this letter tn the Enterprise, 

I believe and I believe the paper, —Enterprise, quotes 

some beard member as delearing that the office feres 

ef ValleyElectris,was sieving dewn its werk so 

the checks aeuldn t ge ferward in iue te all 

subscribers sr users ef electricity, Be that as it may, 

the whole office feres knocked:eff werk a beut 11 this 

merning and went on the air tentght at 6, complaining 

that the statement in The enterprise was a slander and 

that they weuldn t ge baqk te werk until an apelegy 

be fertheeming , I knew net whe instigated all thts, and 

am net sure if it is te the advantage e ene side er the 

ether, se cenfueing is the brew being stirred. Peresenally, 

it struck me the Enterprise might be the lsser frem 

the statements ever the air but I den t knew abeut that, either • 

«, is .• , . !'■ t 0 i, 8 • «»01i fJ • 1 

Beturning te the muraals, I must say the Cetten^rueiftxien 
leeks grand abeve the firplacs. As fer the balanoe ef the stuff, I 
the effect is net a sucosss but I shall net be sure a beut that until 
the merrew when I shall have the soaffelding dewn and can 
thus get a geed leek at the rafters frem belew. Perhaps fireplaee s 
and the patina ef dust that will gather ltke a patina ever the 
surface with the passage ef the years may make their 
effest mere passable than 1 think it is new. 

mt&t i hr.* e*. ? ' ,rs . ^ 

I had peeple this afternoon te take up my time, — 

Florida numbers dragged heimby s uby Bunkleman, 
ef the college. They were all very pleasant but J was 
tee het and bothered with a qezen projects simmering te 
enjoy myself er te wq*# a very entertaing best, 1 
suppose,' -• r * • ■ — . 

\1 think 1 am going te write a oelumn 
tonight bqt I may ge te sleep on it but shall try kneoking ene 
eff regardless. It s silly wasting one’s time in getting tee 
tired, I think.,. . 



Another day ef marvelous summer wealtoer, 
mostly blue--in the- sky* deepened by the presence 
of huge eld cotton bell puffs ef clouds, along 
with a delightful breeze te keep dewn the effects 
of the humidity. 


9952 






I had premised myself te do mighty little 
today and little enough I dtd en tfcia a ehine but 
somehow, forgot abeut kneoking eff tn the 
physical pursuits ef attending te tag ends ef 
unimportant but time-consuming efforts, 

I began at 6 this merutng, knocking down 
scaffolding frem the interior ef Ghana and 
eventually get that place pretty well cleaned up 
of its assortment ef mud, dried to dust, shavings, 
pieces ef lumber and so en, I decided 
the 8 er 10 inch space the apex ef the reef 
wbbere the tops ef the murals almost 
net was tee rigged ir ridged er -stiff er weeds a er . 
uninteresing and se I hit #• an idea 
fer breaking that ltne by suspending gourds 
of differing sizes and shapes. These I suspended 
frem the tip-top ef the rafters where they 
joined, requiring the return ef planks and 
sgsffelding, taken out earlter, I waspleased 
with the effect when it was finished and se didn’t 
mind the effort involved, In the north serneres, te right and 
> left ef the cotton crucifixion, I suspended a hugs 
cluster of gourds which softens the ■ 

lines betooaen the North murals and the East and Nest ones, 

. whil in the southwest corner I suspended the 
branl er baby’s swing, hanging seme bandana blue end 
costs red handkerchiefs frem. the natl in the f rafters 
holding this item, while tn the opposite oorner 
■ It hung an armful ef aromatic branohss ef bay, s a ssafhras leave 
put g striped rug, hand woven tn front ef the 
fireplace and hauled tn a fleck of earthen wars 





OS: St 


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9953 




9954 




Sunday, June 88th, 1959* 


molasses jcira, anoient gallan whiskey jars of the 
gallon and five gallon design, enaaaed in basket-like 
, V .v protective covers* eto*, ate*, and tenight I 

guess the place leeks a bout as interesting as it is 
going to* One thing ia certain, it has 
celer alright. 

About 4 e 'aleak Sister and Lleyd blew in. 
hey will,remain tenight and possibly longer, 

I found Sister her eld self again, speaking 
bitterly about one person and another including 
her husband. As Ik had suspected, the transformation 
that seemed to stand forth during the last visit was 
only a temporary illusion. 

.oi.t ,• ' v *“-5oiV!>sHi :-t\. U\>ois 

Naturally, it was with regret that J ltstened 
tpnight to Ur, Narrow's fnal broadcast for at least 
a year • We shall all miss him « Oddly enough, 
nothing was said as to the identity of the person who 
will replace hi*. s s - 

Mrs • Walker telephoned late thts fternoon . 

She said Charles Cunningham is happy ones more 




«^u fcmio 1 . 


bs.ce 


because he foresees that the stir, caused by 
The A nterprSse, that the R*. E. A* office fore 
had been slowing dotfn in the issuing of 
dividend checks hag caused such a fuour that 
Charles thJmkeThe nterprise finally and 


v‘r. t c utterly doomed She said further that Norman 
Fletcher was very distressed that the 
A line had appeared and that numerous ladies 

of Valley Eleotrio. had called her to denounce her . 

.. Isn t it wonderful what a single line eon 

do to fet a young tornado simmering . Urs • 

. I Walker dtdn'i seen t too upset about itNaturally 
> n I an hoping J* B. may win in tomorrow's vote for 
the ensuing year 'si control of Talley Eleotrio but 
a t I think Mrsh Walker is inclined to be neutral 
- t or perhaps a little inclined to hope the other 
( side may retain their hold on the organisation, 

I think J . B m would give it more effeoient managemtn 
butit is better, I suppose, for people to have what 
they want rather than what is good for then....... 


C 4 H 0 * u& 


Uemorandumt 

nsiVtosa totwi • nttt - o\ yeu* 

Full smmer with much blue sky, big old puffy clouds 
and a grand breese from the Gulf, 

. OB t «*»'*«* Oft *••• tfooio’ 9 & » bid 

For everyone except me, the week end appears to have 
been a busy one. 

tv 11 tBJr'p tut Mr w 

2he best thing about it is that J . iT.'s fnotion won the 
R* E. A, thing and once more.he is chairman of the Board* 

«f. if. worked late on Friday night and must • 
haue keen tired when Saturday dawned . Bg*deMt n io*tiwA' 
fairly early, perhaps around 7, and Sister, Lloyd, Celeste and Dee 
Hertsog must have departed a little after 9. Ifce clerk must 
have departed shortly thereafter for the store was closed 
when I went with the out-going mail • fortunately 
J saw the postman ooming along, after he had dropped the mail 
here and gone on around the dans. And, stnoe the 
looal store was closed, I handed the out-going pieces to 
the postman to be oanoellod either at Bermuda or Nat chew, I hope 
he didn't forget them . 2he Enterprise reported 84 
hours later, the column for next Ihursdoy had not oome to hand in 
either last evening s or today's distribution . Perhaps 
everything went to Buckeye . 9 ri 


e'tos 


rtw imit 




K Bus loads of Cane iver subscribers were hauled to 
town, including the Artist* Every subscriber present was registered 
and after that aboui 8,800 of them had to- get in line and approach the 
box to cheok off the names of their favorite candidates, —members 
to the aneunc of 7, I believe, and, if you favored 
JV Bn* you had to w rite bis name in. All this took a long 
time • Representatives of eaah faction eleettoneeered 
at the ballot bosses and marked the names or wrote id J* H.'s for the me 
of the voters, stnoe the majority oan neither read nor write* It must 
have been something of a farcee ■*" ‘ 

.efto«S«v\od 

the lawyer. Backer or some such, spearheading the opposition 
and, Cousin Arthur Watson more er less looked after J* H*s 
interests$ and deoided when it came to counting ballets . 
which Should he accepted on grounds of tntenMsn* r*garfloss of 
spelWg, eto., and whtohshoul be thrown 5t?Tue 





. 


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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


9955 


9956 


Monday, June 89th, 1959 • 


Celeste and Sieter got bao k abouu 18 :30 and J • H. came at 8 
to py off plantation hands and then returned • It was 9:30 
or 20 before the resul s were Known, J* H m winning 
by about 53 votes 9 

Sister and I dined alone at noon • Her : 
jealousy for hor husband's father and mother 
is st white hot heat^and her carryings-on o 

were book to their aoeustomed pitch • It was all tiresome enough 
but fortunately 1 had a 8 o'clook appointment so I escaped 
for a while but she aamo to.Tueca after they had 
gone • I am glad to say she returned to* '■» Y"V,6 
Shreveport sometime after 11 last night 

ji d Lloyd went b^ok this morning so it was peaceful enough in 
these parts for theSabbath, • -i -s * . 


cv'OC 




1 9 3* Villard telephoned Saturday about 6 ♦ 

to say that she had had a 'phono call from 
Carolyn who was in Shreveport "having some * : ■ * 

.... major work <fo lie on her ear", and hoped to get*? 

down this way on Monday• If she couldn t make it on Monday, she 
would some the following week • I trust the crepe myrtles 
will be cooperative and fyold their original w- 
coloring and that Garmon will pu- of her 

departure for California on the 5th of July so that she may round up 
a the calico-clad ladies fo the film as promised 

' for this week on the a ssumption Carolyn would keep 

. , y her appointment 9 sto'., cuviao »*>* •- 

. v.3- n e i - 

One thing I did manage to ohieve today by 
myself and that was to turn through this week's issue 
of Life which had as many Illustrations of interest, 

• wj - f - . especially in the furniture section • I have putoff 

mentioning Life, tn pursuance to jfour sweet reference to the su scrip i 
recently, expecting every day a letter would come to hand 
or a oard be found attached to the issue-but nothing has 
appeared as yet and each succeeding issue oontinuee 
coming, I. expect we shall just have to wait s* 

- . upen t he magical moment of notification 4 It ta so 

wonderful that littla Miss Lee, in : pits o, the billion 
things to distract her, shoul never forget Lesion's 
happiness 9 

nameottco briir ** wee to i*swif i. ** 

, . I am beind in my desk work this week but hope'to catch up 

tonight before calling it a day, I'm Hoping there 
was relaxation to be found this week end in Lyme •••••• 


t o\ a ’, 


tonight before calling it a d a y, I'm hoping there 
3a * was relocation to be found this week end in Lyme,,,,,, 


Uemorandumx 

. 

u F ull summer with only a five mtnute blustering 
of the winds around 8x 30 to make it seen as though 
a seasonal afternoon shower might cool the 
a ir but it didn't and blue and tdiite dominated 
the skies for the balance of the day, even as it had 
done before the 8 o'clock interludeo 
• <. * 1 1 

It wasonly at 4:30 today that my 
Cane River Memo, mailed Saturday, reached town, — 
Saturday afternoon, all day Sunday and up until 
afternoon on Monday to travel 15 miles • As 
a nemo to Lyme went forward at the same time, 
let us hope it doe an t take proportionately 
as long to travel that somewhat further point • 

. • • 

At supper tonight, J,H, admitted it 
h a d been quite a full day, what with the ordinary 
run of things plus morning and afternoon sesssions 
at Valley ’Eleotrie 9 He satd Mrs, VsLker, as 
representative of the press, was present and that 
he had invited her to attend all Hoard meetings • From 
the tone of his voice, I gathered the invitation was left ■ 
• handed courtesy • 

I feel instinctively that while Mrs • Walker 
may be making an honest effort to serve the public 
in getting a full story on the R, E, A. thing, she 
may also, posstbly unwittingly, be serving as a source 
of information for the opposition, and especially Johnny 
Mocker or however that gentleman, tn control last 
year, spejlS his name • I chd 1 drop a 
htnt of care to the lady • For aLl I know, 
it is possible that he er some other member ef the 
last year's ioard, may have done some servioe 
for the Enterprise when the Cttixene 0,unctl 
was pressing very hard and therefere in 




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9957 


' 'feu 


9958 


set 


rea 


gratitude $ if fer ne other reason, some gesture 
of compensation is in order* 

I was glad to learn that J* E, 's tenure will run fer 
two years instead of one and this will obviate all 
this excitement as an annual event* ** 

. Somehow, I was not surprised to learn that 
Blythe was on the river today and so was even less surprised 
to have her form appear about 3, along with that of 
a nice lddy, a Ere, Woodword, of Boyce* 'we had quite a 
pleasant session and afterwards, went on a little gourd 
inspection tour* There are really some fine specimens 
' and, as I had hoped, some vefy interesting new strains 
resulting from oross-polleMsing inlast 
year 4 crop, the a eeeds of which 1 made u 
yohen planting this yearns crop* 

I* S, *illard just *phoned* She said she 
had had a Shreveport call from Carolyn this afternoon, 
explaining that liei* cor had required more work on it than 
she had anticipated and that she would accordingly not 
get down this way before Wednesday* I, know not if she 
has correctly estimated th'e mount of time still 

h 


use of 










Smtl 




required for repairing the car* 

ei;\ Ye 


ba. :A . si. 




Ihe ffjiiflmor'i performances go e,n a pace* 

The newspapers reported a week or so ago how much 
furniture in the Governor's mansion had been 


smashed to pieces jupt before he was taken 


•»ns 

sotiioa c 
vjnn.lo'L 


to Texas and from another trustworthy souroe in 
\BatonEbug'e, It is said that nine window panes 
had to be replaced because of bullet'holes put 
through t ft,* /ro* th, inside. Hie Ooverner 
appears in ah affable manner to tbe< press but 
when the press isn't around, the other side of his 
, spilt personality stands forth and it is quite 

unpleasant for those in his immediate neighborhood* 


And so the new week starts out and so 


ahtf iu 


•\ eo! 


<T H ■ 


\‘.s or,. 

I fold' up my beard and oall it's dayl******* 


Tuesday, June 30th, 1959* 

•' t wtea LU'V oj h-tcr * rsi r.' 

■\,o •'*« * r ?.[>*T" , . 

v .Vi ^ v \a 51 i> dilc t rs -a , tdr j«i Acv . Yu*: pnair.il 

tuc- HMituk AoiAqi itiitoutk a. • 0 bMMttt'O «« r t|li 

UemorAndther lovely eujjmer’s d a y, with ehly « 8 o'clock 
frown and a dab of. rumbling, lasting only 
a few minutes and then aLl blue and gold again* 

i ftdiio ftdc % r aituka aita doirtw tto aritcn-v -VY. or'A 

.. 

While it was still cool this morning . 1 slapped a coat of 
white paint, as a sort of primer, on the ®hana doors* 

I must say the plaoc jLeaked odd, white double doors on a log 
cabin* But I shall hav another go at them to¬ 
morrow at dawning, but this time with pink instead of 
white, and I suppose they and the place w 11 then look 
even funnier although I'm hoping I may get the 
proper shade that will bring out the pink in the mud 
chinked in between the legs* 

- v.-, i ■■■ ■ t o* 1 *•. 

Carmen telephoned to tell me she is leaving for 
a month's trip to California, driving 
with her brother-in-law and sister* She asked if 
I had. \eard from Carolyn this week* I had not . .She said 
that when she had spoken with her last week, .Carolyn had 
asked for. an appointment for last Saturday to 
eee a bout rounding up young ladies in calico 
for the film but that she had heard nothing from 
her on Saturday or subsequently* I did not tell her I 
knew that I* 3» *illard had, for I know she disdains 
I* and furthermore, since Carolyn did have huoineee 
with barmen, it seemed to me just as well that 
she , Carmen, not know that Carolyn had ’phoned 
I* s • W* from Shreveport and apparently had not tried 
Carmen or had not sent a message via I* S • W* Carmen 
thought the failure to keep the appointment 
both disoourteous and bad business* ity impulse 
was to start humming "If you knew Susie, like I 
know Susie*****" but I restrained myself* 

o e r s'iri .uIvuh'- .insvtc-j „ »i -• 

I gathered some pretty Califernia mustard greens while 
the dew was still on the leaves this morning and took them 
across the fence, knowing how fond J* E* is of them, 
and I left them with the servant, seeing no one else* At 9, 

I put on 8094 ,x? 44 h olothes and went bye for coffee, finding 



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9959 


9960 


Wednesday, July 1st, 1959. 


.1 iivaos bix*v, , . p •: k - 

j fadam Regard alone with the servant, Celeste having gone 

to town • J fadam Regard was oomplaining of 

having had a rough night, what with a tiresome afternoon, 

involved in a supposed ride with her daughter whioh turned out 

to he more of a calling spree on the daughter i part 

while the mother roasted in the oar. I thought 

Madam Regard looked exhausted and before finishing 

the half orange on whioh she started, she ashed me to 

give her my arm so that she might return to her 

bed to rest # There s a parti, in full swing *>f 

somewhere tonight and. Celestb is among 

those present and I suppose Ji-R.may - 

have aooomnied her although he must be pretty tired, 

in view of all the doings going on at R. 1. A, and 

on the. plantation. > r 

■' 1»4 S ’ " I'll v 

sAt ui i\V i-o $uo sbnrie 

Just before the supper hour, the oook oame to a sk 
me if her husband's brother and wife might see the murals 
as they were here from Los Angeles for the first time 
in 15 years and were anxious to see the paintings. Naturally 
I ws delighted to*drop whatever was seeking and give them a little 
tour. •I mdelighted with Sera's brother's name, --Money 3*V 
Williams.. And so I made the most o the opportunity 
to address the wife whenever possible as lys. 

Honey Boy whioh still sounds strange to 
my ears as I repeat it to myself hourA 
later 

.a. troioi - *• o\ t t. ’ • , 

And speaking of names, T have about made up .my-mind 
that lots of stenographers must have read J>roust 
and got hts old nurse's name so fixed i»t ■- 

their mtnds that when they get ready to write.a letter 
to me, they autematioally think of good eld J ranootse and 
prooeed accordingly—witness the Cosmopolitan note • 

sell-'’ :i -i'" .a<.■.>::■ ;•••*. ■ aa stnuote ' l* 

The Long -fandango goes •» merrtly for Mr. Long who 
seems to enjoy the buffonery of the pioss*in which 
he is starred. Surely, it's a sorry eonentary 
si of *an'« political maohine that he has 

provided no means that seems to work in eradicating 
an insanity vistim from retaining control of 
the Government of a Stats where so many dire things 
* m a y happen as the buffonery goes •»*•••••• 


Memorandum 


) w%S\ no'*\ «a 

no IL&danaVl o 
\jobT v i at ite as 


I 0 ‘T‘ 4:.150 
SiU 


i -i in or. 


Another lovely day with another mid afternoon 
threat of a thunder storm that came to nothing but 
clear skies and a delightful breeae from Me. &ulf. 

V .'i'.t i •*' Akim titsirttUbaqo n® qss* at 3a®.t en»*l*»Q' 

Fortune was with me in the oof fee cups this 
morning when, just as the tears got turned on, some 
unexpected guest arrived to spoil the emotional spree 
that had just started • The lady was feeling sorry for 

herself because her husband had given her suoh soant 
attention of late and seemed not at all enthusiastio a bout 
the perfectly darling party at the c ountry Club last 
night. I was quick to point put that the husband was 
bound to be feeling the effects of the. strain of the past 
few months and especially the last week and even more 
especially the past week end, what with all the business that 
had been swirling about him. Tea, all that was 
admitted, but what n bout. people who never have a chance to 
go di ywhere or do anything and do they have some just 
claims to greater consideration ? And then the oar of 
the guest drove up and that was that 

.i! ,4. 

Earlier by three and a half hours, pink had begun 
to blush on the doors of Ghana, a sort of pale-ish pink 
that suited the oabin not at all but, suited my taste 
to perfection since it achieved exactly what had assumed 
it would 0 —the intensification of the pinkish tone in 
the mud between the logs Of course the . double doors themselves 
are anachronistic, so far as, being in tyne with the times 
that the o a bin was built but they will have to serve for the moment 
a nd while the pink may be ssid to be too delicate a color 
for harmonising well with the balance of the facade, still 
they serve the purpose I have in,mind to a T and so 
I ate my breakfast with unusual relish because of my delight 
in what had been effected before sun-ups 

i-’1 4 essi. tutu o*ta nAa ••.sMon® 

I. S.Wniard telephoned tpnight to say 
that Carolyn and her nephew had oome over from Many 
to spend a hurried hour with her, checking on details 
to be used in next week's Rpffitijppfihes filming, what with 






TOSfl ft! 


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9961 


taw 


9962 






camera men scheduled to come up from Hero Orleans 

for the entire week to do the shooting* Carolyn asked 

j, S, Willard to telephone me that she had had to return to 

Many tonight and to go on to Marshall on the morrow hut 

would he hack in Natchitoches on Saturday and 

would see me Saturday morning or, if not then, on Monday 

morning* it seems to me that is the same tale I heard 

from Carolyn herself a week age about another Saturday or 

Monday* I* S* *illard said she had cut short her stay in New 

Orleans last week to keep an appointment with Carolyn in 

Natchitoches on Friday but the Friday appointment had 

not keen kept unless one considers the following Wednesday’s 

unexpected pleasure as having something to do with the 

previous Friday.* I oan't remember when Ola Mae 

wrote that she would be seeing me within a few days hut 

I guess that was t a oeuple of weeks age* One thing is 

certain, I haven t seen anything o her as yet although 

a few days tn the sight of the Lord may well he eens, -mthe 

Lord and Ola Mae* 

t/io*. •*•.< Sbbu* i eoi s.VJ \< :•«*» 

Mrs. Walker telephoned tonight to read me the editorial 
she had written a hout,the Valley Electric for tomorrow’s 
issue • I thought it excellent* She was still at the office 
and the hour was somewhere between 8 and 8 and naturally 
she was tired, following a busy week and so I suggested 
she not bother to read a long letter blasting at 
me, probably about the mention of Arkansas in last 
week's oolumn* ,’ 

" i o .' •• .. c V-’ 4 " is'.. i' 1 - «*.;*•■• 

I* S m Willard, I might say tn passing, made what 
I considered a profound observation"What is 
so confusing a boutCarolyn’s personality is the fact that 
tn her presence, one is so impressed )y her seeming 
■i effeeency whioh , tn readly, she doesn^t seem tv 
possess at all*" .. . 

•:> J Is,' o«ii >:* Sv B V.t.c 5 s'* b.tii’-n; 

t Well, so much for the^hana pictures with the , 
zinnias in full flower, which Carolyn promised to Fake last 
week* I hope they last long enough to give color to 
the pictures I shall secure through the camera of 
another photographer who seems less effedent but is 
slightly more dependable, I hope* ’ • • 

0 V\. ^ 00 •- £ 5 J\ w tsh blll> >0 '■* 

And now to the amil and thence for a' d a b of music before 
folding up the beard******** 15 


: ,oU *c<U b 
110 *'<0 oj 
**« £ U. 
■f'O 10 
r* raao 


Thursday, July 8nd, 1959* 

bsuivto S 


• • • 


’to: 


Memorandunt 


aow trito&'S i>«»;soiJrno; 
:oht' o* vu.tftua 

Hoi*Ktkto 

(ji'Clu AOS'iC i 

; - a::; .t o<J 0 * hm 


1 0* 


_ \ 


High summer continues with the daily afternoon 
bluster of 15 minutes to oool the air a little 
and to produce no rain of whioh we could stand a dab if the 
Weather Man felt inolined to gives us a"drap"* 

. li&b UJ!j\ ' »4. . '.-1* .U: V i i ISO <1 OS. 01 bU'lA 0\ 

I Jr arned today that the oamp, hidden away behind 
Fugabou s house, is vacant* It is among the more desireable 
on the river since it is so close te local sources of 
supplies and yet so tucked away from the publto road 
that one never suspects it is there* Jhs building, itself, 
is stoutly built, well equiped with all sorts of utilities 
and has always rented at some ridiculously low figure such 
, as25 or 80 dollars a year* I should think it would be something 
which somebody like the s ocket and the Lost Word might 
relish having pinoe it would afford a delightfully 
quiet plaoe, assuming they want quiet, and at the • 
some time provide a convenient stepping o f place in their 
north-south, south-north migrations, so constantly being 
practiced as between Shreveport aid New Orleans and book again* 

I imagine J* H* would be delighted to let either one 

of them haife it although he seems to be in no hurry to 

rent it since it may be oonveniant for local use in 

the barbecue section, if ayone feels impelled to indulge 

in such sports as do so many of the folks of the Henry acquaintance 

in town* appears to me pointless, however, to 

bother writing either the*ocket or the Loot W gr g since 

they ; qontinue too busy to bother K about correspondence* One 

doesn t get a chance at grabbing such a bargain very often, -m 

this being the first tine this has been available tn about 80 years 

I guese* But the It ok of dependability on the part of 

both ladies dees not reoemnepd them to ayone so far as 

assuming responsibility for them in any sort of a 

transaction of this nature, <n thick, were I to recommend 

the place to them or then to JvH*, for I would 

most oertainly feel a measure of responsibility and 

it would be foolish for me or anyone else to take on 

such a moral guarantee, for satisfaction on the part 




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ssaee 


3963 


saw 


9964 


Friday, July 3rd, 1959. 


* i ■ » 

At supper tonight, J. H, mentioned that Lloyd 
had arrived sometime this afternoon to work on the 
plantation. He was in the field and I did not 
see him. J. H. mentioned there was a head of cattle 
to he moved from one pasture to another, an operation 
olaiming Lloyd’s attention and taking twice as much t ime than 
had been expected since the wrong herd had been 
transferred and had to be returned to their original 
graaing ground and the right herd then removed from its 
pasture and put tn the place the first had 
ocoupied in the afternoon doings. Both Lloyd and 
his mother agreed that the Yellowstone job was better 
turned down, after Lloyd had traveled there for it was better 
for Lloyd to work on the plantation at a few dollars a day thafi 
labor at the kind of job Randy Jack sq successfully 
carried through last yean and Celeste s nephew had 
accomplished With so much satisfaction and monetary gain 
the year before that, Lloyd doesn't like the country and I’m 
wondering how the two succeeding months will pan out for him. 

■. e-noe ISo tlMJ 4 

I suppose there will be no out-going mail on Saturday 
and so this memo will be the last before next Monday. 

I have no notion as to what the week end may be 
like and whom we may expect, —nobody, hope. ' 

J. H. will leave on Sunday, it is said, with the Louisiana 
b a nkers on their special train to California, via 
Las Vegas. I believe SanFranc iso- isthe .point where the 
party will turn b a ck but, knowing J. H. as I do, I 
shall be surprised if he doesn't jump the train in 
favor of a plane long before the bankers' special returns 
tp; the Pelican State. « • s - o. * > lr 

Ui n ,S - T - : 8 "o:>6 a»JOtr - ; • 

There was much merriment on the store 
gallery this afternoon, ffoonie B ttiste, bride of Jaok Morris 
>y,a couple of Easters ago, journeyed to town to < 

. 5 -consult a physician, explaining she had a tumor. 

•— * The doctor considered’, her case, dispelled he 1* fear 

about the tumor and pointed out that she, . *• 

instead, is several months tn pregnancy and at present is 
carrying three children^ —« bit of ■news "> 

Uoonie thought hiH rious and couldn't get bn&k fast 
enough to ftgglp about wiph her friends, loitering about 
the 8 tore while sphere were giggling beoause 
Jack was claiming fatherhood fuse of the fact that 
Noonie has been spending her week ends for the past six months with 
at boy friend on Little Sve.......... It ; 


Memorandum : 

u.tu : -e ViOityt'U! - - •xa ci 

How nice to discover a message from little Miss 
Lee in today's post. 


40! TJJC.S 


I am delighted with the material used and for the 
sample oard enclosed as an extra, This may lead to 
something quite worth while and I shall make it a point 
to take it up with Ola Mae, —when and if. 

I had notrealiaed the full tide of summer had 
engulfed Lyme so soon. I can recall so vtvtdly, not only 
the furnace-like blast greeting one on stepping out 
into the street from cooled offices but even more the way 
the heat has a way of lingering on into the late evening 
and on into the night, once the brioks, oement and asphalt 
get thoroughly baked during the daytime hours. If one 
ventures out at all at noon, I assume it is largely 
predicated *n the supposition that some a island of 
equal coolness to the offioe may be located just around 
the corner so that, in spite of the heat through which 
one must pass, one inolines to scurry through the heat 
to arrive at the tee. cakes the earlter. < 

tawa swob Aaow at ftooviX oi man A 

I smiled at the observation that the new 
new boite da glace might so easily have been delivered 
as an operational unit under the head of general expenses. 

I thtnk you are perfectly right and I*m qtUbe sure 
that is the way little Miss Lee would unquestionably 
Pave handled it. Sometimes I truly pity those who deny 
thpmsleves the vast pleasure, which might no easily be theirs. 
Surely, to my w a y of thinking, they are losing much more than 
51 percent of the joys of living Gratitude is a word better 
not mentioned in my case when it is probably generally 
believed that it is simply oommon sense end good business 
to expend nothing if she is able to get quite a lot 
without a bill ever being forally presented. There 


so e» t T9i.inoa sn o: 

rnw V A ft ^ VS B . •< r 

> v « .J 

; bnu isriioas AS 
sttt b»iow.< 
,, '-i-TiTirr a . At<v . r; 


OOJ o. 


ysAt srtoV»4 







Sunday, July 'Sth, 2959 


Memorandum : 

I held the thought that the week end of the 4th ma 
been aa peaceful at Lyme as hereabouts, Locally there 
was no family and only a few road-running visitations, 
with the weather being hot $ only a few visitations were 


are so many ways of saying^hank You, it seems to me but 
people with the g reatest financial assets so often seem 
to realise it is the primary currency they should employ 
for suoh expressions • 

ru v 

Our day was full summer without the 15 minute 
oooling off spell in the form of a remote thunder clap, 

I was surprised to see Lloyd hunting birds with his rifle 
at 6 o’oleok in the gardens this morning and even more 
surprised jo learn at noon that his labors on the 
pl a ntation had been broken as abuuptly as they began, 
what with Sister having telephoned this morning to 
tell her son he oould oome baok to Shreveport to 
work as a life guard in some leoal motel swimming 
pool • '■ - 

_■; -,jr r r,o ■ ... ■. . ■ . V i. Sf • - « 

Celeste ipas all upset this morning about the Editorial 
in yesterday’s Enterprise • I was puxxled because 
it seemed so mild and yet so exosilent to me* 

■ c ' v g snoa -.ir't to ft i -'.■• 09 U 6 no boioo 

I had appointments all afternoon to receive 
aoauaintanoes of J, —probably out on m 4th of 

July travel binge • I had workmen to look after, 
too, and, all js-drip with sweat,, rushing from 
Ghana to Yucca to wash awcy some sweat before the impending 
next appointment at 5 # I was mildly surprised to 
see Carolyn and her nephew on my gallery • Uiere is 
something sad in witnessing the dying of the fires of 
affection, especially in one’s self • She looked 
at Ghana and wanted to take pictures, —c week from 
.. Saturday when the colorful anniae will have vanished, — 

, her camera, like her car#being in the repair she pm 

vt While I rushed on to keep an appointment, she made 
. v a date for, next Friday for a couple of workmen 

r to bring big, old fashioned saws to hew some timber for 
iIk her film, She left them at Ghana and I saw her just 
as she was leaving at the front, gate. On consulting 
hsr calendar, shediscovered she wouldn t be oeming 
this way,as she had mentioned to me earlier, as onFridcy , 
but rather on Saturday or Sunday • She did not nentton 
the apeintment ehe had made with the werkmen and did not 
advise them of her error. I corrected the matter 
when 1 so w then before they quit work • ummmmmmm.»•••• 


Juanita.B, came tp pay me a \ittle visit on Saturday 
morning, Before she had .been here very leng, howeuf.r* 
word came from the store that J, H had a oeuple of friends 
whs wanted to make a tour and so 2 3 aid Goodbye to 2uanita 
and encountered J . H, with his New Orleans friends in the garden . 
2fc«y..remarked upon the beauty ef the i»2aoe, --the orepe myrtles 
are at their best, and J . 3 . explained that gardens and 

houses existed solely beeause of my efforts without *ioh they 
would iong since have.vanished, --a.rather unexpected gesture, it 
seemed to me . 

The store folded up~at noon and J . exhausted fromhis 

exertions of tke past week, slept for 3 hours in the afternooon,— 
something unheard ef in his career* 

He and I supped together a bout five and J asked him to 
make a reund a* Ghana . He liked it and, even as „ 

Father Calahan a day or two before remarked* — I heartily approve • 
He remarked that Gillespie ef Hatchitoohes takes excellent piotures, 
in his estimation but I did net pursue that spUien {•/ 
while 1 share it, * do no i share Melrose inoome and it takes money 


to ohat With Blyv*and the earns two ladies she had entertaii 
time I was there • 2* pleasant to wmtoh the 
n from day to night, especially when the after- 
such marvelous surfaoss sf silver asross Us water 


tlool 










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84HH 


Monday, July 6th, 19 59 


new Orleans passed this way but * had to push them out 
as it was already dinner time and dinner oouldn't be delayed 
as Celeste was talcing J, H, to town where he caught the 
Bankers' Special, headina west for California, They left here 
atl8t20 and Celeste didn t get back until sometime between 
6 and 7, 


Memorandum : 

This afternoon we had a sprinkle about 8 o'dock, 
and although so thin one never had to worry about 
a parasol, still it kept on with the business until 
6 o'clock, gathering together about as much moisture 
a § anioe heavy dew, It remains tloudy tonight, * 

A long distance from Shreveport came from 
the Rocket, I do not remember her agenda when she left here 
but I believe it oalled for a looalappearanoe on Friday 
or Saturday, Ohio morning she said a camera cYew 
would be coming up from Mew Orleans tomorrow morning and that she 
would meet them at Montrose at 8tS0 and they would 
begin shooting here at 9, She 

said she had thought about the sinniae and that they would 
not be at their best if she waited until the week end, 

She asked me to telephone Lucille, ~ Mrs, J, 

Alphonse Prudhomme, at Oakland, asking her for a 10 or 
1 Q:30 appointrsent, suggesting that she be in her costume, t 

prepared to descend the Oakland steps and come to the gate, I wasn t 
happy ahopt this request for I hod made other appointments 
for the ooket with the -same lady wh-ich somehow or other never 
seemed to come off but I called Lucille 

regardless and wasn t tee sorry to learn that she would be 
in Shreveport on the morrow, As for 

the appearance of the Socket at this bend of the river, I, for one, 
haven t muoh of on. idea when I shall see her, —possibly 
temorrop at 9, possibly some other day at any eld hour, 
possibly not at all 

•Iks tine to get the best Ghana picture is afternoon 
since Ghana faces West but such fine points scarcely cut 
ice in this hurlymburly world tn which the Rocket j 

The picture te be shot 


In the a fte moon, Blythe brought a M r, and Mrs,Cook 
over for a while, leaving the rest of the guests at Samp 
to do water ski-ing or whatever, Blythe brought me a marvelous 
supper of sandwiches, meat loaf, macaroni, two kinds of salads, an appj 
ing and Heaven knows what all. The newtoe box-is "wedged out" in const 
- * - 

S©»« Reverend Father was being entertained by Madam Regard 
when I moseyed across the fence about 6 •'lock, I found him an 
interesting t person, young-ish and much traveled, —the Fiji Islands 
to Rome, with soholaotto pursuits that had inoluded ' 

Columbia and c hioago, and withal, a graduate of Joel Fletcher's 
Southwestern, L, 8, Us and so en. He had something te say about 
gourds in the Fijis and Madam Regard tossed out the idea he might 
like to see the local ones, —providing herself, 

I supseeted, with a chance to catch her breath after a 

buy afternoon of entertaining by herself. It was first dark before 

we had finished with the gourd patoh and Celeste had arrived 

back at home base. Much ohatter followed and a 

very pleasant supper and by 9 I was home again and 

thus a ble to have this little chat before sampling the 

air waves for whatever meet the press and faoe the nation may have to e 


Long fandango swirls on. Yesterday in South Louisiana, the crow 
wild with delight when the Governor's false teeth slipped out, 
waves of applause was such that I shouldn t be surprised if this 
accident should beoome a standard bit of horse play throughout 
the balance of his oampaign. One can but marvel 
that sb many otherwise quite nice people, such us Madam 
Headword who was here on Monday with Blythe and the priest 


operates. The picture to be shot, of ooursc, is 
for the Hodges film and there are shots to be taken of 
the corners of several different log oabino’to show 
the early type of work done on dOy cabins. There 
will be no time to take interiros on the morrow, I learned 
but they ean be taken almost anytime, I wets reminded, since 
they are interiors but anytime ts a lirttle <n- 
defin^te so far as my expectations for the Picayune go. 


with no prise, T *-• 

Blythe brought me so more snapshots, taken at the 
June 11th, party for the blind. It seems to me Lestan 
looks :wfully Congo in coloring,,,,,,,. 





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9969 


9970 


r i»4» 


Tuesday, July 7th, 19 69. 


>. I knew net why hut I had assumed today's post 
might he a little on the generous side, probably because there 
might he a double dip since nothing happened art Saturday, 
the 4th, &ut things seemed scant enough although * must say 
I was delighted to Jr learn that the Hansens had, indeed, 
begotten their offspring, after both mother and father 
had passed the half century mark in years, surely an 
unusual event so far as the mother part of the thing is 

concerned, 

' 

One of c armen's cousins from Natchitoches appeared 
this afternoon, just prior to -fhe drixxle, brtnging 
with her some lady from Henderson, Texas, said to be 
in the x yler-Dallas area, This lady explained that she 
had been commissioned while in Louisiana to contact 
me with a view to making an appointment to •: v 
come to Henderson to speak before some civic group in that 
city• Imagine me going U Henderson ei{ such a mission, 

4 . V; , ’’r ' * 

• Carmen headed out for California with her sister and 

brother-in-law today, it is said, Mrs • Walker ' 
telephoned to read a letter to me from Hellen Bullock, 
advising Mrs,Walker the Clapphors would be in Louisiana the week 
- of July Uth and would be speeding at least one night in N a t c hitoohes 
and a part of at least one day with me at Melrose and expressing the 
x hope nrs. Walker would get to see them, Helen was taking off 
for a oouple'week s stay at Cooperstown, New Fork* 


The vegetable garden is beginning to produce things 
for the table and it is very ppieasant to be able to 
pluck a ripe tomato from the vines and enjoy the flhvor, 
undimmed by too many months of pre-ripening period from a 
refrigerator oar. We ate having okra now, toe, and bile pepars stuffed 
a nd such like, The tomato plant I like best t-sino'* 
somehow got a dwarf sinnia, purple in hue# tangled up at its 
base when planted and now purple Minnies about the sixe 
of half dollars, are bursting out of the greenery 
of the tomato plant, making *he tomato fruit appear 
at once startled and a little red faced in suck surroundings • 

And now for an attempt to find Aristophanes an Invitation 
to learning, if 1 can only find the program,,,,,,, 


Memorandumt 

Hot and humid, t 

Last night's clouds lingered over this morning . The 
sky was over-cast, with just an occasional shimmering- 
of sunshine sifting through the thinner veils of oleuds, 

Madam Regard and I,ooffee-ed alone, the other 
lady being in town, and as I was arising to depart, Carolyn 
dropped in to say Howdy and to tell Madam Regard she was 
about to take.some movies, 

We went directly to Ghana where she had already sent her 
camera men and her nephew, They took lots of pioturaa* . 

of which I did not gee the reason for, being all outside shots 
and many of them seeming more or less to repeat in 
up form what had already been shot in longer range, I reckon she 
must be using Ghana as cr» example of the wood business for 
the Hodges Gardens film although I couldn t help wondering 
if she might also be doing a.ftlm at the same time ford* 

Mae, too, Bo figures appeared in c wy of the shots although 
Mupphy was with us to lend a hand in moving dose hangers, 
etc, where laundry seemed to be drying, —red, yellow and 
white laundry that would contrast nicely with the 
more prosaic greens and browns, 

I never saw anyone work harder in heat and 
humidity that must have been about 90, 

Carolyn determining the spots where the camera should go and 
telling the camera operator and assistant what 
she wanted to include, etc,, etc. 

She had her small camera^ with her and said she got 
some transparencies for me. We shall see. Bo 
oamera was taken inside the house. 

Shots of Hr, Miller's cabin, showing how the logs of 
the era it represents were fitted together and after 
that, the Afrioan House, —log shots and close-ups. 










From rhe FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers, #M-3889 _ in the Southern Historical Collection, 

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O'VW 


9971 


9972 


Wednesday, July 8th, 1959 • 


By 20:40, the work had been completed for today's 
shots at Melrose and the caravan went on to hit 
a couple ef scenes in town and thence to (brand Eoore, following 
which, they would return to town to do thf Lemee House, 
outside and inside, too, I believe • 

Albertm Ben, Carolyn'e-nephew, was with her, as he 
seems to.have been for several weeks • He io a n toe boy $ about 
my height b t still a child and more of a hinderanoe to 
his aunt than anything else, I should imagine, We sent Murphy 
9M sucrrying to Tucoa to get some properties for a scene, 

AlbertBen intercepted him and explained he needed some 
bamboo of the proper site to fit into an old Kaddo Indian 
pipe he had, --this order unknown to us, and we waited and 
waited in the heat for J (ephy, not knowing he had been sent 
on another mission, I had thought he might oarry one 
of his aunt s smaller cameras with tripod but he was busy 
fiddling with bamboo sticks and had to be sent for when 
the party was ready to fold up, He did not assist tn 
getting t^e oars opened or loaded and was even late in climbing 
aboard, I have d ways thought tt poor policy for a 
female producer of movies to encumber herself with family 
teen agers and I think so now more than ever, 

, - - "n. 

Carolyn threatens to return on Friday or Saturday which 
I doubt, I should have been exhausted by 10t40, had I 
been in her shoes but K I reokon she was fust getting things 
under full sail, How she keeps up the pace, I know not, 

How it will all end, I can but wonder • Of course I 

ep preciate the fact that she tooh some transparencies that 

may be used for the Pioayune but, the exteriors in oolor will 

be useless until there are blaok and white interior shots and when 

they may be taken, I wouldn t know, and the one without the other 

can be of no service at all, sines both exterior and interior scenes are 

required for any Picayune article which, otherwise, would be pointless, 

: v, .. ...• ■. .> .r .■ . JU 1 ■ ' \0 r ■ 

From today's post one gathers the Registers will be honoring me 
a bout th\s week end, Power to them.and to me,' 

especially if, by some miracle, the movie business really should develops 
this week end, Well, we shall worry about that when we get to tt,,,, 


Memorandum 

Hot-hot, humid-fiumid, and nt a cloud 
in the sky, 

Whether people like this year s gourd crop or not, 
there ta proof that the rodents feel drawn to some of the 
prettier varieties, Tuesday I found several nice one pretty 
well eaten and so I immediately set out a fine banquet 
of poisoned meal that would save the aforesaid rats from bothering to 
climb te bamboo poles to break bread, as tt were, 

I was pleased to discover at dawning that the marauders 
had had a busy night, not with the gourds but the 
especially prepared banquet , Indigestion by now will 
probably discourage them from any pole climbing tonight, 

I hope • 

Phis year's experimenting with gourd growing convinces me 
that I have found a method that may be of 

help to prospective growers o gourds in the future and I must knock < 
« letter tonight to the gourd society, sharing my findings so the 
suggestions may appear income subsequent bulletin and thus 
be of aid to other gourd growers, assuming they may some¬ 
times read the Bulletin, 

i i.t- ■ - 

I saw both ladies at coffee this morning, the younger 
having coffee t the elder having fresh figs with sugar and 
cream, Ihe younger lady mentioned that she had made 
a date for me with some North Carolina gentleman, currently 
gtsiting in this Parish, who had asked if he could oonfer 
with me on the subject of gourds generally, Rhe said 
he would pa 88 this way this afternoon but it is 
now after 9 and as I haven't heard a peep out of him aa yet, I 
assume somebody's wiree got crossed, 

I should have asked the lady a bout the matter this 
evening but as she and Dee went to spend the day 
at the c ountry Club, departing this morning and not being back 
tonight at first dark, I shall ask about the point 
on the morrow, Thus the elder lady was alone today and 







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I'l’ 


9973 


9974 




Thursday, July 9th, 2959. 


a« she enjoys the peace and quiet of such times, I'm sure 
had a very pleasant time of it, 

As for noonday dinner on this side of the fence, it 
was tastey enough, Ohana having contributed to the first 

item on the menu, —okra — for a gumbo, 

!Ci© t 

And speaking of °hana reminds me that this afternooon 
while I was fiddling around in the Ghana garden, Ida Red 
qalloped by on the other side of the fenoe, his or her 
horse taking the ootton rows in mighty strides, The blouse 
she or he was wearing was bright red, the skirt or trousers ,— 

I couldn't tell which, of sky blue, It is 
said Ida Red is making the rounds of the 
neighborhood, asking everyone for a couple of dollars 
to assist in rounding up transportation from here to 
California where the father of the firs* 
six children, including Ida Red,' out of 14 children her 
mother has born, lives, and if that isn t a 
Proustien sentence, than I never wrote one, 

In today's post, there wasn't mush although I 
should have liked to explore the contents of one or two 
letters, had all the secretaries not gone on • 
frolic at the local honkey tonk tonight, I shall catoh up 
with things on the morrow, however • I believe I enclosed 
the letter from Helon Hughes in yesterday s memo, I was 
genuinely sorry to learn of the death of her husband, 

William, and I can well imagine it will be 

a long time before Helon accustoms herself to his 

absence for they were the ideal married couple> each 

possessed of just enough of the unpredictable to make ' 

it possible, apparently, for the one to understand the other to 

perfection, I was always convinced that they were both 

equally waoky when they threw up their successful business in 

Little u ock a few years ago and, for not, particular 

reason, settled down in Serasota, Florida, where they built 

a house on the beaoh, then sold it and moved to 

New Orleans where they bought another, only to 

move within a few months to Lake Charles and 

thence back to New Orleans and thtnce baok to home base 

at Little ‘ook. Qoioe I Supplied bulbs and plants in 

a uite imposing amounts to round out the Little ock 

garden, first when they were living there and secondly 

after their return, they having tanken much of 

the stuff to Florida with them when they departed 


Memorandum s 

Sort of 90-ish but pleasant enough, thanks 
to a meandering breeze from the ®ulf, 

> 

I was glad to have Kay's letter, She writes well 
enough to wake one wish she would write more often, From 
the general tenor of the letter, I gather that all goes 
well at 543. St, Ann, I'm glad they are taking 
a little Louisiana vacation, After .all, the distances 
aren't too great from perch to perch and I think 
the people they visit in the Baton Rouge and Natchitoches 
area should tend to make for peace of wind. I shalll 
be delighted te see them and I think little Hiss u ormon will 
be, too. As for spending a night’ in Briarwood, 
that is an experience not new to the visitors and if they 
can take it with satisfaction, I'm all in favor of it, 

I enjoyed glanoing through the Villa Louis folder 
and I think we should put it ea our list for Wisconsin 
places to be visited • It's strange that 
Mrs, Everson didn t note the slip of her pen in her first 
letter when she mentioned the "mouth" of the 
'{ississippi as being in "isoonoin and in her second 
letter continues to call the . source the mouth, 

,\y ■ c-j- * ' l 

My day has been oluttered up with people so that 
I have don~'ii, done muoh but waste considerable 
time on nice enough people, unendowed with any capacity 
to comprehend what the local layout was all about, 

‘ Ihey were all spnsored by Celeste .and as at least two 
sets of them lingered on aoross the fenoe for hours 
after saying goodbye at the sWe gate to me, suggests 
that everyone present aoros 8 the fenoe found just the 
climate to suit them, 

, rs*> ct J\ ’ . er . / , • »f' v *t ». Jv , K $ !> i » V- «*’ *' 2 1>*1 ■* 

One exception was a.Mr, Vercher^_ formerly of this neighborhood 
but now .domiciled near Cnapex util. North Carolina, 

He livep on a Government pension, and apparently fiddles 


.ftu.V” vo y 

, * w ± ., - . t 


no I vjtsu 



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997? 


997 ^ 


77 (Mi 


around ibis With whatever appeals to him, A year 

ago he put a few gourd seeeds in the ground and got 

results that pleased him, When showing some slides 

he had taken in the °outh Pacifio to the ladies across the fence, 

he pointed out one scene in which a groud figured cmd from that, 

learned that gourds were raised here, —hence today s 

visitation, I liked the man and, of course, gave him 

many particulars regarding the dvantages of the Gourd 

Society and a membership blank which I believe he was very ahappu 

to have, I suggested he make use of the tobacco 

sheds, used for the drying of the weed, to whioh he has access 

in the °hapel Sill neighborhood and 1 have a feeling 

his next year's crop may afford him as much if not more pleasure 

than last year's, 

,'.ui ' s v.m, sbtttG. ■> A Vi 

Thelma Kyser 'phoned me this morning to tell me 
about things she has cooking in the' Pilgrimage business 
and t\ ask me about a few things, I take it.she had 
not read this week's Cane R iver Memo about Uncle 
, Tom and Ur, Pehn fof she asked if she might bring 
Norrgan Pletoher and Jack D ritton down to see Ghana, I 
dan t remember how that column touches on the subject of 
log oabins but it seems to me L attempted to make the 
m a tter of the Uncle x om habitat .a little confusing 9 —something 
whioh would require much effort on my part to begin with, I hod 
quite a few telephone calls later in the day from 
various people who had been amused by the piece but, 
oharacterisioally enough, not one of them inquired as to 
the location of the oabin referred to in the piece, - the 
one named Ghana which L believe I mentioned as being 
"situated some miles above Hidden Hill", 

, Thelma mentioned that some time back, Ur, Hodges, 
through his office, had suggested that the Hysterioal Ladies join 
with Hodges Gardens in promotional literature 
for the October doings, J he said she had been unable 
to contact Ur, Hodges personally since his wife's 
death but expected to hold a conference with his 
General Business Uanager, Ur, Byrd, She said she had spent 
considerable time with Carolyn at the Lenee House a couple of days ba 
the jfternoon of the' morning Carolyn was here. She asked me how it is 
that Carolyn always seems so pressed for time, I did not tell her 
I thought the Ramsey case resembled that of Governor Long 
in that the patient oannot possibly stay put in any place 
very long,,,,,,,,,,. 


Friday, July 10th, 19 59# 


Uemorandum » — ^ 

Pure summer, 

• ' Vv c** 

The day got under way with a pillar of 
fire and a column of syeke, all wrapped into one. The 
under ground fuel tank burnssL* fortunately without exploding, 


tractor drivers are always admonished never to put 
gas into the\r machines until after the motor has been 
cut off , It seems that escaping fumes may so permeate 
the air as to ignite a flame from the spark in tho engine. This 
morning one of the tractors was not cut off and according 
burst into flame at th,e same time the storage tank roared heavenward, s 
far as the oontents were conaerned but the tank itself remained well 
planted, f, ?§r' T * 

I chanced to bp near the side gate when the fire shot 80 or 30 fee 
into the air, just aeross the road from where the old store had stood, 
Scads of field workers were all around, pips the clerk, an ex-over- 
seer and. three eontempoary overseers, Celeste was just pulling out 
of her yard in her fine Cadillac, heading for church, She 
and I re-aoted quite oppositely, for I turned in the opposite 
direction to look after some correspondence before going to 
breakfast while she. stopped her car, shouted at the fire-fighters 
wha to do, —although they were too busy doing what wasto be 
done to listen to an amateur, after which she . said she 
could waste no more time as she was already late for church and 
that if the fire should spread to her. house., somebody should 
look after mother • What ai essay might be written on 
manifestations in the hour of accidents. 

Later someone said it was Haeger who had neglected 
to cut off his engine. The next person said it was Brrrrrr Man, 
a nd the thrid person, Murphy, told me it was his boy, Jefferson, 
a nd thus all the evidence.on th t score agreed sinoe 








Francois Mignon Papers, #11-5889 


9978 


Sunday, July ISth, 19 59 


dL 1 three names identity the same person, e a oh being heard 
gtoui os freuqently as the other, —a praotice so 
common in this region where so many of the natives are 
equally well known to everyone by from at least 8 to 4 nick¬ 
names, 

\© 'Tol’uq o At'ins too job aiR 

fortunately, nobody was hurt by the conflagration and the tracto 


Memorandum: 

. : i •-<: : .. ' v ■ li c 

It wa 8 so nice, finding a letter from Lyme in 
Saturday's post • t 

• • - . r ■ '-■■■■' vr-ie 

It always provides me with a great lift to 

learn what has been cooking, what is on the current menu and 
what is anticipated for the morrow, a threesome 
which was covered so neatly in Saturday's post, 

I am especid ly happy to learn that little Miss Lee 
is to have a couple of days for a breather and I hold 
the thought shot may employ the time for relaxing a 
little el though I can readily imagine the temptation 
to do billions of things during the little interim will be 
, strong, 

I cm so indebted for the translation of the Lucas letter 
which I had not been able to read • It certdnly has 
much charm in its quaintneoe of expression, I find it 
an inters sting-go-incidence that thef amily "plantation 
in fformandy should bear the same name as the Jefferson 
Davis home at Biloxi, — Beauvoir. 

The account of doings of the July 4th week end suggests 
that the aforementioned couple of days vacation might very 
well be in order, Ihereference to the visitor with "nothing 
to do" except to take up your entire day had suoh a familiar 
ring a bout it, for surely we both encounter 
many a soul in that perdioament, it seems to me 

And so "old Sari" is asking 8 million in damages from 
Time and Life, How there's no questtoh about his 
lack of sanity for anybody with cay sense would know that he 
will get at least 4 million dollars worth of unfavorable 
publicity, from those publications as a result, Last 
night's radio spoke of the a overn when in F$rt."orth as 


Was rescued before it had. burned too much so that only the contents 
of the storage tank was destroyed and since J • H, or the 
plantation or both are stock holders in thesouroe of 
supply, I guess the loss will not be much, 

©4 v • v;.'. et»". {•:-•••" • * V' 

About 11 this morning, in response to voices from my gallery, 
.1 put* in an appearanoe to find Celeste with one of 
the many Cloutier ladies present, Celeste presented the girl as 

were merely exploring the garden a little, la c Autier 
neverhaving been here before • It oocured to 
me the opportunity excellent to give Cele site a look at 
<*h a n a and so, witfiout inviting them in to fucoa, I guided them to 
the little c a bin which Celeste thought ddrling, she 
■» sajd, She scarcely glanoed a round which was all she 
needed to satisfy her quest for knowledge^andr t 
I reokon that is at once the first and last title she will ever 
- be interested in traveling so far on foot aghin tn this life, 
tjiS'. ■ «\u 71" ’ o . \ieu 4 o ot '..-.ft- v At t o-b ntr ro 

Mrs, Walker telephoned this morning to say Borman Fletcher 
was most unhappy about the CaneHiver Mens 'dboiit Unole 
o Tom and Jfr> Penn , At 1 o'clock this 

afternoon, immediately following his broadcast, which I did not 
hear, Mormon ’phoned me • He must have forgotten 
he w a s distressed for he was his u«u«2 affable self and 
asked if he might come down to see <?ha»a a nd when, I reponded 
r. affirmatively to the first part of the question and said & V eld 
time would be grand. He thought Sunday might do, 

I reckoned that would be fine, I suppose Carolyn might 
be here on °unday, orSaturday or tonight, although it is 









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9979 




9980 


pulling a pillow case over his head, putting a cushion on top of 

his head and his hat on top of the gushion, all of 

which seems to confirm the Governor s sanity, —in a way. 

And speaking of Life, it continues to come through regularly and 
without accompanying notices, I so much appreciate the 
suggestion regarding the notices when they begin to appear and 
shall aot on suggestion. 

. - ■ i v. .... 

At 8 on Saturday morning, Carolyn ’phoned from town to 
say she would be here at 9, She called Celeste and told her 
the name thing and really got here at 9:30. Celeste was in 
costume and she and I appeared in a couple of short movies 
taken •» and about the front gallery of the big house, The 
weather was favorable, everyone in a fine mood and 
I guess the pictures were alright, Within 85 minutes the 
shooting was over and the *ocket and her nephew were on 
their way a gain, heading toward Oakland to shoot 
h ucile and a veby of costumed ladies. he*ocket said she would 
be heading toward Hew Orleans before noon to spend four 
or five days there. I told her she would miss 
the Registers but on that point I guess I was wrong. 

OnSaturday afternoon a telegram was read to me f rom 
town, dated fromBaton^ouge, I assume the 
message must have been sent by Kay since it began 
with my name in the message seotion,-m 


F 8, we are returning to,New rleans, 

get up to see you later" 

■ Ml- i, i'.'Jk- .s Ofv. »iVfr \,o 8 iituooor 

signed James and Kay," 


Hope to 


tv, 


And so, as 511 and 543 are in the same block of St, Ann, 
perhaps Carolyn and nephew, James and-.Kay maysee eaoh 
other this week end, v 

And mention of Baton a ouge reminds me of your clipping concern! n| 
Essae Martha’s latest honor, which was news to me. Surely 
she has had lots of suooess and I only wonder how much longer 
the feud within the Library will keep her on the job since shewas 
supposed to have stepped down so far back, tonight 
J, H, is supposed to return and everybody will welcome his 
return,,,,,,,,,. 


Monday, July 15th, 1959, 


Memorandum• 

'■ 7; ' r • ? - -s' >jr 

arumku r tf a tSidi/li!i ° a PP eara " oe °f clouds during supper, 

arumoxe of thunder and a two minute sprinkle, followed bv sunvhin*'h*fn 

° u PP e /" a l h *lf finished but the suggestion if tempered * * f ° 

coolness lingering on under a cloudless, star spangled , 

H ‘ \ ■ •’ •'< rj p ; v *> iV •. * , J • $ if ** '■ , 'V / ■ s 0^. v ^ i & 0 ^ '* 

hnXhi I it'J 0a8 c * r 1 !*i nl V 900 d to see how rested J, H, appeared, 

9 gaiety and vigor.. I h a vent had an opportunity 

rlTaiLTln Wi t h I!? the W o'"*™* at ^er was ™ V 

redolent enough with amusing episodes tn his westward journey. 

On Sunday night when the train arrived at Fort Worth, 

Governor L 0 jg p -.<» Texas on a rest cure, was 9 

J :,station to oonverse and probably give orders to 
political supporters of his who happened to be 
dri ong the 8 00 people on the banker « 

iV'theaV' 00 *’ 1 /^ Senator Friedman of Bayou Hatches was one 

1 il! waa impressive to see the 

/ Partis the governor is surrounding himself, Apparently 

nobody is going to get another chance to send him to an asylum. V 

, Us Governor indicated he would be summoning various 

State Committees, such as Finance, to Fort "orth on the 

morrow to plan for the special session of the 

, ht ia calling for early August. With such 

a retinue of guards, one oan but wonder why the Gq ernor cannot 

Fort wllth* aUy Pl 1 a * 9 u in without having to go to 

Fort Worth, assuming he wants to rest. And * y 

* u « rno **«*•"«« he V° nd borders of their State, do 

thl rlV? the h ° me State hv committees meetings of 

It+.i+i “•* dut K that “'"ally faUs to the 

hutllli \ 9 J ii 9 acting Governor during the Governor's absence. 

tolderiiJho^thinl 0 , d ° thing t di ff«r«ntly regardless and one continues 

to funatinn unT. J ?? °£ r i a ° h , * M ° h a pitoh Uat ° SiiaU oa » continue 
to function under the thumb of a man in such a 

mental condition. / * '■ 










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OBCP. 


i l.ui" 


. CC 


9981 


Mias Halmea came down this afternoon to do som painting 
and 1 made the most of the opportunity to send b a ck to town by 
her the tape recorder which requires a bit of adjustment 
to augment its volume when being played back, Her 
brother operates the Homes radio and TV business in town and 
his office sells and repairs tape recorders so this seemed an 
excellent opportun ty to have the djustment made and the 
machine returned at a minimum of excitement* 

A couple » of priests arrived at the same time Miss Homes 
put in an appearance. One had been here before, —/row Jena, 

La,» and the other- was from Cold prings . Hew *ork, which seems to be 
opposite Vest Point, He mentioned the Hudson Valley 

seems to be having such a warm summer this year, —a fact you yourself 
x may have-already noted* 

*! 

I was glad to hear from C, Dormon and Z>. Chookley, I 
wonder what Carrie refers to regarding her trip last summer, I 
take it there may have been some printed material about 
her coronation that she thought I ought to ..have but 
that is only a guess, 

®* *' ^ , * , 4 . ,, v,i % « ftd'T OCOkJB iOCi'-’ • 

I knocked off a piece about figs for this week’s oolumn 
is interesting that this years crop, —an c' - ' 

abundant one all bver the Parish, it is said * should be 
following the pattern of. everything else in the vegetation 
field? in that the crop is coming into maturity 
about two weeks behind schedule* Usually, if memory serves, 
the 4th of July usually sees the fig crop at its maximum but 
we have had only a few this year and it appears it will 
be at least another week before human beings and birds being 
with each other to see which will have a go at the crop earlier 
in thifdoye preferred to leave it to the blue* jays, one would 
never red ly have to go and inspect the progress of the 
ripening fruit, for like the chief butler at t a banquet, 
the bine jay invariably k;eeps a sharp eye on any souroe of food and 
each dawning he make a round of the fig trees to see if there s 
something on the liV-'for breakfast, and if so, H he 
automatically soreams the glad tidings for all the world to 
hear and the cardinals and all the feathered host cones 
headlong into the special tree whence cometh the cry, Murphy, 
who helps me at garden occasionally, remarked this morning about 
5:30 that the blue jay was proclaiming the *tipening of the crop and Lol 
hadfigs forthwith, thanks to the jag/******** 




it 


to vie 


M." 


j:»c 


9982 


Tuesday, July 14th, 1959* 


••»»»• 


Memorandum• 

Locally Bastille Day was celebrated with some 
rumbling of thunder along about first dark but it was 
just old stuff, much sound without aiy fury and no dampness 
and thus we observed the demise of the Ancten Regime* 

• 

90 to 93 for the daytime and 70 to 73 for the 
night seems to make a very pleasant balance of the hours and it is 
that 70-ish at night that makes things in the country so 
much more pleasant than the urban readings that seem to never 
get around to cool off until dawn when the heat gets going again* 

I was pleasaed to have a note from the Crescent City 
explaining the turn about in the Batpn Rouge- 
Natchitoches plans* I take this news to 

mean that solidarity has made itself manifest 

in spite of the blowing of hot and cold storm winds and that some 
sart^of domestieityts ,a t long last, going to establish 
itself* 

Some time back I.suggested to the husband that the 
Pontalba apartment be retained even if a home were 
purchased in the country or the suburbs* I take it this 
advice, for some reason, is not being t aken. My thought 
is that there will always be lots of travel book. and foth 
to theCrescent City and that the amount of money spent on 
hotels in a twelth month would exceed the amount of 
the annual rent of the Pontalba, a very small item for 
those enjoying such a comfortable income, not- to mention 
the convenience of having one's own dwelling place to come to 
whenever tn town, still think the idea of retaining 

the place sound, not only for reasons mentioned above but for 
other reasons, too numerous to mention but I realise 
seldom ± do people see futures in the same light and 
it must be admitted that the 'matter is certainly none 
of my business* The primary advantage of °aton Rouge 
for the new-comers will be the presenoe in that city of Miss Mah 
who undoubtedly will provide the lady with a heap of the 
love and affection I'm sure she never got from her 
kin folk and that single element should amply justify 
the move* 





From the FRANCOIS HiGNON PAPERS, #M-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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M'Al 


9983 


9984 




not 1 * 0 in tke °” a ^ ternoon a »<2 e 

noises as though they were ready f nr doorste P, making strange 

axact ly Jibe w » th th V didn't 9 

vith heaven knows what, at the base of th-TJ 188 * he a vi ^V stuffed 

* d ° uht ™ iiih D Pngs and tender grasses f cullrd 7 '*^* 0 ^ 11 ’ 6 neck8 » atuffe> 

sss-ffi; * eneath the 

me to their above beneath the^graldiflerTt 8 ° 2 ey raced 

to 

lunar ray8 > Pin-pointed by { few larler's^rs*/ *** ntgh * Under 

stumbled*over ImtZTiVloT^ lo ?* night ** Mat I 
heard the Presidents of Sarah T^nl’ 19 laSt nigh at 8 » an d 
University join Dr £rr/»nn Lal81 ! enoe alld Boston 
of Bishop Berkley.' There were°a°{ *$* Philo8 °P hy 
have preferred discussed but „• itP 0 books 1 should 
fulfilled its purpose in providin'?, 1 ^*}!, 8 ’j the 8ub l'ect matter 
to Berkley’s theory that *toVe seen it " 0t ° nly 

Mo a l 88 *ai.bltUrfly 

K S-Yr-- - - 

inRhode Island and that his house it in 2E**5 thre * year8 
Hiss Lee and Lastan do a leisur&u **»•» little 

fmr u m ’° r h ° th «*- -«s-i ar „ 

- - 

•**» including Ai / 0 .d, ul B E”. P “ pU «« S>°« 

*” ,os * r ' ^ *. a „ d , n> 

And non, f.r a g, a* u, mtl oM * (jr . (1 ^ a „ d . 

, • cm< c. .4 <• cv *: M *rr' l» n r ;> r, V* " t, ‘r* • • . c • • . 


at ani 


•t ft 


AC ft*! US 
Q»\ft ■frKOfftlft ft 


'*i0 


n** 


Wednesday, July 15th, i959. 


Memorandum: 


* It has been such a pleasant day all around but more th a n any other 

reason being the eoistle of the 11th from Lyme which I haven t quite 
finished and which I shall re-read with infinite pleasure again on 
the morrow • 

I write- a little later than usual and shall accordingly 
hit at random'thoughts coming to the surface with no thought on my 
part of continuity or coherence • 

First off for myself, may I say how good it was to have such a 
lovely glimpse of Lyme through the penned word and how good 
it is 9 to be able, thus, to make little journeys about the town and 
bach home again • 

You ask for the identity of the lady in Egg and Ban t, 

She was the daughter of Hattie Williams PeaceT~Jer maiden name 

was Dorseu Williams and she married Judd Creighton and he i 

who beai her.both~on the Saturday night and the Sunday morning, there bye 

resulting in her death early on the Sdbbath . I intentionally 

p^T.Vdiilo.lu^ 8. *h. 4,ri// ».uld not he ehulKJng round to 

muddy the waters since v orsey was already buried and the case 

closed so far as a legalaspect of the papers were oonotrmd Under the 

circumstances, what with the husband insane much of the time, and 

not much chance of following the governor s foststepa into 

an» asylum — or out again for that matter, it s eemed better to 

let the. reoord go with the somewhat veiled treatment of the 

case as handled in the column • 

I find it pleasantly co-incidental that about the time you 
should have brought up the matter of the tape recorder, 

I should have been mentioning the same item • I have 
always assumed it was bound to be sufficiently sensitive to re-act q 
to excessive humidity and so 1 have always done my best to keep 
it in the most dry plaop I ooi£d muster at Yucca, and all 
Louisiana is pretty damp, inside or outeidp • * , .. , 

my jsnelvopes add the reoorder dose to the hot water heater, the pi 


« 


uiokly 


ace mo 


ebr.; 


A - 




A 


a 





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retie 


9985 


9986 


Thursday, July 26t , 1959. 


likely to keep humidity at a minimum. I shall let you know 
how it perfomrs on its return from town* 

It is so characteristically thoughtful and kind of 
little l/iss Lee to ask Lestan to "study pa up desiderata « 

At the moment, everything seems to be rocking along at 
aple depths in tape and stationary but I promise L es.tan 
will make strange noises if and when* 

SrY«i\ftf 'iv hovr-tn x bftiVeihJ 

The^nterprise a while baok suggested a new mast head 
for the column. I thought the picture you thought good 
might serve and wrote a note to Sarah Simmons, —Mrs. 

Heel Simons, asking if I might borrow the Jfim qnd seiit the letter 
to Blythe to put on the proper address. I haven t heard from Blythe 
but Celeste mentioned that Sarah and Noel are in~Europe at the moment. 
This Spring Noel did a big go-roupd inAfrioa and I hadn't 
realised hex had so soon winged hts way across the Atlantic again* 

...f v* : 3 imu ';. " • •' t R* : 

I shall be glad to obtain the film, however, hot for the 
Enterprise but for little Miss lee and we shall see what we shall 

K hi i,b •' , s ■ i t. ■ ft.o -1’ - v > i'- ■ <- ■ 

I was surprised to find u rs. Combs at the coffee cups 
aoross the fence this morning. She seems fine* Carrie Dormon 
brought people at 1 o'clock, a couple from Newton, Mass*, 
who know Virigina Bennard's husband and will know Virginia in 
September. I thought Carrie looked so skel$ton-ish and 
she seemed tired but, withal, pleasant 

, \ ■ if ' t ■■ : 

Norman Fletcher, representing u hamber, of Commerce, and 
Ann'8 husband, J&ckBritton, repressnting Rotary, asked to 
come this evening to see Ghana and to talk Uncle Tom* 

Norman had a broadcast until 6:30 and so it was 7 o'clock before 
they a rrived and we talked until after 9. They wish to enlist 
my aid in the restoration of theC a bin* 

' ft V 0. - '■! •• ■ 

After they left, Mrs . Walker called to s a y the "new” Board, 
began legal action today against the "old"Board, a sking for 
re-count and or setting aside of the election* The 

Papers filed name J. Henry, et a l, and specifically name Lloyd Wenk, 
Dan and Pat Henry, next Wednesday being the date requested for 
answer. This will be a nuisance thing and I'm glad J.H* 
has had his week of vacation And vacation reminds me to 


Memorandum • 

o •* s • • 

Summery, indeed, with the blue sky cut off for 20 
minutes this a fternoon while half an inch of rain fell* 

I am wondering if more fell on my side of the road where my rain 
gage i at the post of the avant-cour registered the half inch 
in view of the fact that the clerk told me hts gage behind 
the store registered only 2 tenths. Be that as it may, 

I'm glad my side got some dampness* 

But my side of the road didn t do so well in the 
postal department today. I guess°everything intended for 
this post office must have gone to B uokeye or some 
such. This is the first time, T believe, that neither 
the Enterprise nor the Times put in an appearanoe on a 
Thursday* There were no letters at all* 

!ii EMh''' ■ 'I'O ft'-nbl of ' \<i r,-: " 8 fti'f 04 !•O 

But absence of mail today made no difference to me 
since it gave me even more leisure to re¬ 
read little Miss Lee'8 grand communication with 
enclosures which arrived yesterday * 

And I should like to take this opportunity 
to say how right was little Miss Lee in assuing 
that the butterfly lilies would be un- <. 

folding shortly, and this in spite of the general 
dragging of the feet on the part of everything else in the 
garden this season* Already the cone shapedsource of the 
flowers at the top of the stalk has formed and is growing 
in circumference every day* My guess if that by about 
Sunday o.r Monday-, "excusin' a frost", the first white 
lowliness will unfold, a foot which I shall ■. 

prob a bly notice first through smell rather than sight inasmuoh 
as the heavenly sweetness of the first flowers have a way of 
heralding their arrival well before the ghostly 
lovliness comes into view. I shall keep little Miss Lee in 
mind, naturally, when the first perfume emerges* 





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9987 


V.r fM! 


9988 


I have a new cat and you could never guess his 
name, or, on second thought, perhaps 
you could, -—Grandpa, 

The old u randpa vanished a week or ten days ago and I 
assume he may have gone on to a canine heaven, —I hope not, but 
rather a feline one, What a slip, It is 
possible, of course, that he is merely taking a vacation 
or gone visiting or some such but I doubt if he 
will put in an appearance and so Andy, who has lots of cats, 
surprised me with a gift package this morning in the person of the 
new Grandpa$ perhaps a month old, and solid black. He 
seemed quite satisfied with his new surroundings, ate plentifully 
of corn bread and liberal servings of milk and he will not 
be taught the game of eating his corn bread from the depths 
of a boot for another month or six weeks, I still 
long for replicas either of Haison or Blanche and I'm 
told, that one of the Metoyers across the river 
has one for me but hasn t delivered sa§e as yet, 

I should like to havq trie ebony new Grandpa and the snowy 
new ^aison or Blanche get acquainted early and thus 
avoid all the tomfoolery of iheis oolor business that 
contorts so many Grandpas and Blanches in the 
Little u ock area, for example, 

«• )*V ' i . • « V5 - .' : ' ' ‘ O " • ‘ i - • ' 1 

I am puzzled by the surprising amount of 
drinking unto drunkenness going on during the current week, One 
expects occasional outbreaks by the gentlemen field hands, and 
{his has characterised the present weeki "ut it is 
a little more difficult to imagine how people like Fugabou's 
mama, surely .75 or older and the artist , of about the 
same age, should be hitting it so hard and day after day, 
Fugabou's mama has been ailing as long as I have known her and 
drinking with a fair degree of moderateness but it 
is comparatively new that she should go at it with such gusto 
a s to be " drunk and down". Perhaps her "miseries" have 
increased and require greater pair\-killers, As for the 
artist, her health is indistructuable and she must be htting the 
bottle merely to keep up with the other ladies of her age. 


Friday, July 17th, 1959,, 


Memorandum : 

Full summer without any cooling shower today, I 
was frankly surprised at supper tonight when J, H, 
remarked a good shower would Jfe to his liking, -•ft® 
who always declares one doesn t need rain to raise cotton, 

The cotton, by the way, looks -wonderful and it appears there 
will be a bumper ctop in that department while the pecane 
harvest will be skanty, it is said. 

Since receipt of the July 11th letter from Lyme, 
my thoughts have been revolving about the picture 
painted in that letter of the transformation of the landscape 
in Sterling Furnace,, I suppose one inevitable 
sign of the passage of time and the advance of age is 
the feeling of regret and disappointment that scenes once 
familiar have been vastly altered in the flight of time and 
are as completely obliterated, so far as any hope of 
re-visiting them as they were', as would be impossible to 
recapture any segment of time, so far as experiencing it 
. precisely as one felt it in earlier days, 1 guess 

it is something like the flight of childhood and the impossibili 
to feel the identical senstations over again. Perhaps 
I have mentioned the lines, set to the music 

of a popular minuette, perhaps by Paderwvski, running something 
like this : 

"There's a land that lives beyond the sea, — 

Far away, far away. 

From whence come those sweet but fleeting dreams 
When all else is gray, 

There's o garden where, in happy hours, 

Long ago, long ago, 

I have played alone among the flowers 
And heard'‘sweet winds blow. 

In vain do they call, — niy childhood is o'er, 

I must long for that enohanted shore, evermore, evermore. 







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ittee 


9990 


Sunday, July 19th, 19 59. 


691 


Memorandum: * 

. I hold the thought that the Lyme week end may have been 
as serene as mine , —the weather pleasant, the landscape not 
too populated with people • 

It is true that there werejwo grass fires, one off LittleRiver 
way, the other in the Montrose area but the former ooming 
on Satu day afternoon and the latter on Sunday afternoon, were 
both taken care of with ample helpers and no damage was 
wrought and my services not required • 

About 6 on Saturday evening, two ladies appeared on my 
gallery, unannounced, —Joan Fronts and Mrs, Johnson s They 
had come up to the camp with Blythe who had asked them to 
come over to invite me to sup with them . On arriving at the 
camp, —a perfectly lovely evening, I learned the ladies had 
been to Montrose to see if somebody could, tell them about the 
mysteries of operating a deep water well • I did j iot know until 
then that the Rand camp had b a d a well drilled a few weeks ago f 
The prospect of facing the week end without running water wasn t 
pleasant and nobody in Montroe, where they had borrow a 
keg of drinking water, seemed to be able to help them . J 
a m still wondering why they didn't go to Melrose with their 
problem . I suggested that Ezra who lived on the 

river bank, about as far to the south as the Rand camp is to the nort 

usually takes care of the Melrose pumps of which there are many, 

scattered about the plantation • Mrs • Johnson drove me 

over to Ezra's house and we were back in 2 minutes ibith 

Ezra who siad the only thing the pump required was priming, 

and in another two minutes water was gushing from the depths 

of the earth • 

We had a pleasant and prolonged supper, ohatting the while and 
eating abundantly • I didn t hear anything of especial 
interest although I was sorry to learn that Maud 
Pattison, although,she is a bag, had had the misfortune to 
slip on a rug in her home and break her hip • I must drop her 



im™. **••**»« ana, TJil—>Vj'T. 

rs c MHS SBjjra * 

forest of «oi»dfng,unpa/sd roads anci^r^ peor 

little knolls, /lojwin^ w PP ont8 h e d cottages, and 
trees, marking dl3 °PP ea dotting every twist and 
clouds of nst growing up between 

turn and onebigon e, lea . * 1 e nostalgia 
therailroad ties, Po . though I may sometime 

qnd sweet and I m gla .. . h n ve oc cured with the passe 

view the transformations tha a eqU ininitv, since 

of time, I shall be able to do so ^ ^ ^ greatly 
of these places, once 1tnown ;s ° b to remain forever 

changed, will Bjjjr le " be J 9Vn pea0e 0 f mind is a 

as they were di fferences that have arisen 

cerned and whativer to dWimo" 
between then and now will simply repre 

rather than rt-plcojd old enough to appreciate 

say, however, that I am ge g 8a ff ona experienced 
in part, at least, some f typified by Madame Vigee 

by lots of peoplf,PS r ^ p «^^ twenty years 

like M\arly-le-Roi had become something liwe 

Sterling Furnace cue to tec one in 1858. 

"The World Tonight " had something to 
currently in progress here • 

burden of growing gourd** It 8 o rd er d onfuaUn 

ihiTark Tf tfmost c Slorful 

hon * y i hold the thought it may be a week end of pecae b 
at Lyme and hereabouts .. 







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Monday, July 20th, 1959 


a note at the Vpptist Hospital, Alexandria, tonight • 

It was nearly 1 0:30 before T gave the ladies a chance to 
get to going on their card game. 1 'he walk home across 

the cotton fields, under a full moon was wonderful . 

This afternoon, Blythe returned, bringing Dr,Band’s 
niece with her, --Marjorie, a very*fat girl whom 
I like because she s a nice person and p because 
she keeps me in a merry mood without guessing it, what with 
her height excessive, her breadth incredible and her 
dresses always too short, never fail to h a ve the-, bottom hem 
a little tighter th a n all that sways a bove, giving her figure 
the appearanoe of an oversized down navigating in a somewhat 
oversized barrel. 


Memorandum 


It tried so hard to rain this a ftemoon but could 
only muster a couple of sprinkles and they fell while, during 
the effort, the sun never did cease shining . 

•^he day's post brought the enclosure, which seems to be a "last 
call which you had suspected but of which I had never 
heard the first s econd or however there may have been previous 
to., the final one. •' 

Today the artist painted a picture which I am 
curious to see. Here’s how the thing shaped up: 

r » • 

Before leaving for Calif omia r . Carmen telephoned 
me to ask if I would supply the artist with three boards 
of a particular size. Saying she had visited the artist, 
given her a list of the subjects desired and that 
the artist had told her that if she. Carmen, couldn t find any 
boards, perhaps I could. Well, * didn’t have any extra 
ones, Xs a favor to Carmen I cut up into six 
pieces a somewhat generous sized board on wlfich I had 
once sketched s mething in pencil, but I don t remember 
the subject, After these had been put into~the proper 
size, I sent the three for Carmen to the artist, and 
as soon as she had them about 8:30 this morning, * telephoned 
her to explain the markings, if dig, on the boards were 
to be ignored, that they meant nothing, having once been 
op a larger board, long qinoe cut down and that she should 
go ahead and. fill Carmen s order, one of the piotures, desired 
being a bpptisin’, a nd whatever else there might be. 

The artist had long finoe forgotten what subjects were desired 
and so asked me to inquire of the lady t jho wanted them . Well, 
that yeans I shall have to await Carmens return a>\d long before 
then, the artist.will have sold the boards, you may be sure, but 
at least the baptisin' might be sailed. 


Blythe brought^me a tray of food which I shall sample later. 
When putting it away, I notedmyoh crabmeat salade, some kind of 
vegetables, gobs of ohesse and an apple pudding, and oakes 
of the home made, angel food variety, so when my desk work 
is done, T ought fo be able to duplicate the-Marjorie line without 
difficulty . 

t * -■ . 1 i - ‘ * , • -r' ■ ■ -* . 

It will afford me equal pleasure if I am able to track 
down the Governor of HewYork being interviewed by the 
Meet the Press bevy which I understand is scheduled for re-broad¬ 
cast and as I'm inclined to like the Hew ijork State Governor, 

1 should like to hear how he turns the trick. 

1 * . >'* i •> . H - ’ • > 

This a ftemoon I was mildly distressed to discover 
somebody had left a gate open and that a cow and two younger 
animals of the same breed were wandering at will 

'neath the gourd trellises, doing neither the gourds nor the m vines 

any special good. The ph ce was really quite a shambles 

before I succeeded in getting them out' and the bushel 

basket of half ripened gourds kicking about on the ground was 

distressing as to condition. 


So turneth the week end and may it have been 
as peaceful with little Miss Lee •••••• t " v • 







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9993 


9994 




Tuesday, July 81st, 19 59# 


have batted her, had she been within arm s reaoh for 

a one 3ixth section of a cut up sketch is certainly nothing 

Carmen h d in mind and * have already used up the balance 

of the material which means there must o necessity be 

a scuffle about getting additional material, I had 

assumed the artist had sworn off the bottle for the beginning of 

the week but I must be mistaken about that, 


I enjoyed tonights invitation* to > learning: --Gogol's 
The Overcoat, a story I had never read and one which I probably 
never shall although I like the Gogol of Dead Souls 
and probablywould do well to run through the short Overcoat, 
should it ever b9 recorded, Mr, Stilman, or whatever one 
of the di3cussi0-particiapnt8 pointed out was the fact that 
even as in the case of Dickens and many 19th century writers, 
the proper names are frequently-, something more than mere proper 
names but often suggest some oharacterisitic, quality or whatever 
the author wants to incorproate as a mean of intensifying 
the vividness' or attibutes of a given individual I 
gather the character in The Overcoat has a 
name that for people versed in Russian suggests a childish 
name for excrement, .Thus, for the ussian reader, the 
name would bear implications that probably could 
not be conveyedin translations generally, and I.suppose 
translating Dickens into another language must 
leave the reader^of the tongue into which it is translated 
quite ignorant of many of the implications the proper 
names convey to the reader the original English, I 
sometimes think of la Storm s companion, Mrs. Crabtree, 
bow odd, in a way it is to join the crab and the tree, such 
unlikely things to put together, and wonder how a translator 
would transpose such a name to a language that 

the two words in English, thus joined together, would mean nothing 
to the reader in the other language, and means not much 
in English either, althoug h I must say there is 

something a bout it that s trikes one as being a little on the silly s 

The moonlight is so lovely tonight and a gentle 
breeae brings through the open windows and doors 
the pungent arnoa of new cut grass from the » manuicured 
lawns and I must on the morrow examine what type of grasss 


Memorandum : 

Full summer and not the^ vaguest suggestion of a rain, 

• ■ 

Possibly, long before you reaohed this m point, you may have 
detected the aroma of the butterfly lily . The annual 
miracle of its unfolding took place at 3:15 this a fternoon, This 
is the first time I can reeall that four blossoms from the same 
cone all unfolded at the same • moment, I am leaving them all 
on the s tern and shall leave this envelope open tonight 
30 I may enclose the first one to be plucked when I get ready to 
post this letter tomorrow morning, t 

I reckon the other three should go respectively to James, 

Daisey in the Dell and Blythe since, in one w a y or another, they 
seem to have grown aooustomed to associating this $lower with 
letters from Yucca at this season of the year, Naturally, I feel 
bound to send one to Dlythe since it was only day before yesterday she 
opined that it would be 10 or 11 days hence before the miracle transpii 

Ora telephoned me this evening, saying she wished to 
tell me her side of a story, —hers and Ann’s side, before I 
heard it from Beth n Beaufort" Cloutier, 

She said, —orrather Beth had called Ora to explain 
that phe had been invited by the Hysterical ladies to 
put her house on this year's Pilgrimage and that she had 
decided. \o display a lot of family silverware, jewelry, etc,, 
and that she wanted Ora to make att ractijoe cards to give 
particulars regarding interesting points about each object, to 
be placed with the displays at Beaufort, and that 
because Ora and 4nn were of,the family, —what a concession 
for Beth, —she wanted them receive at Beaufort with her. 

Ora said she immediately told her that she had always 
assisted at Yucoa and that she most certainly would not 
t ink of letting me down but Beth burshed thataside, 
saying that 1 could just ats well get somebody else, etc,, etc. 

We know so many people of‘her type, brushing aside whatever seems to 
run contrary to their whifos, 2 nen Beth 'phoned 






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9995 


9996 


Wednesday, July 8Snd, 19 59, 


and told her the same thing and Ann told her that she would 
not dream of walking out on me* Beth said that didn't matter 
and to plan to come anyway to Beaufort and that I could get somebody 
else* • 

Well, so far as I know, it hasn t been settled as 
yet whether Melrose will be on the tour* Last 
yepar, even as the year before, it was settled that 
it would not be, on but then it was on and nobody knows anything 
a bout this year as yet* 

I am quite suns Jfeth will probably not oall me anyway but 
if she does, it will be to say that Ora and Ann 
want to serve at Beaufort rather tahn Melrose• Be 1 e 
that as it may, you widl admit she is quite a bag, 
thus trying to pull my hostesses out from under me, in a 
manner of speaking* 

'• " t . • v, .. ' • 5 • 

The artist came to see me this afternoon, bearing 
the picture she had painted from the markings she had 
found on the board on which she was supposed to put something 
or other for Carmen* I detected the African House, the 
roof of Yucca and the sundial, —only that and nothing mere* 

It was slapped together badly enough and filled me with wonder 
as to, how long she might -keep up this mad infatuation 
for Pa who is certainly got her in such a tizzy, she can't 
Paint for sour apples and yet is scrapping around like 
a chicken with it its hat off, trying to- npund up more money to 
further entertain Pat with more expensive licnUors* 'Uly 
love may be alright for some ages but for such a bag in her 70's 
it certainly appears to be rough on the victim, —end 
her pocketbook • - 


I found e very thing qutte.rosey over the coffee cups this morning, 
It seems that -Celeste hasn t$ had a chance to go anywhere in 
months but she and some of$the other girls plan, an 
all day picnic for Thursoh^. taking along tables for 
bridge, etc*, which sounds drier e tty much like the ^ 

July 4th frolic and as tame 


taki 
drprett 
e bHl 


etty much like the n 
<4 I opined nothing* 


, f suppose the bridge enthusiast has just as 

much right to ponder at my enthusiasm for ! the first unfolding 

of the season s butterfly lt'Iy •>••••••• 


Memorandum• K 

t • 1 ' ‘ . 

Full summer and the sweat never ran off me in such torrents 
as it did this morning. 

Unfortunately, in a way, I have been sharply 
cutting down on food of late, on the theory that it is 
better to stick to lighter things in food consumption 
when it is warm* The net result was that I got quite 
drunk this afternoon between five and six, a sensation and a 
loss of time that pleased me not at all* 

* 

After a busy morning out of doors, I decided it was the 
perfect afternoon to turn the house upside down, thus 
providing me with an excuse to remain in the shade. And 
just as the place got into a pure mare s nest. Father 
Callahan appeared with another priest and a layman from 
Washington State* As a good r neighbor, did them 
the courtesy of a tour but was glad when I could get back 
to putting Yucca to rights* *y 4:30 that was done and I 
decided on a coke when Lionel Jeanmard appeared* 

He suggested I have a drtnk of whiskey with him and 
although whiskey was the last thing in the world I 
wanted, I naturally agreed but, unfortunately must 
have drunk it was the liquid and coolness, unmindful 
of its dynamite* •' 

Lionel is just back fromBenvS§iand Santa Fe and was altogether 
delighted with the latter. H e sayc.it's the finest of 
all the western towns he has ever rflsiteq* 

fliingc got a little vague after that* 

A oouplejmf ladies must havearrived about 5:30 but ( 
whilst recall them vaguely, as mere figures, I haven t the vaguest 
notion as to their identity. I must probably know them, 
since thye brought me a cake, home made, for I found it 








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' Thursday, July 23rd, 1959 


in c super-elegant silver cake dish about 9:30 when x cam up for 
air, I hope they and Lionel didn't have 
too rough a tine, 

Oddly enough, I haven t felt so well in days as I do right 
now, so perhaps I needed the s timulant, even though it did 
knock me out for 5 or 4 hours, 

For the second day in a row, the 1st class 
mail pouches for this bend of the river 
must have gone to Diickeye or some such, suggesting 
that the morrow's delivery may be a fairly bumper one Perhaps, 
on the other ahnd, the hot weather, the vacation period and the 
other demands 9 on one's time and strength at this enervating 
point in the year has madeit impossible for people 
to do much correspondence anyway • 

If I remember correctly, it was this week that 
the *ygu8t Cosmopolitan was to make its appearance, I 
haven t heard any report on the matter as yet so assume 
thi article about Louisiana or whatever, may not have been of 
much interest, 


Memro and urn 


I wonder if you find, even as do I, that the enclosure 
from Ola Mae seems a little odd* 'Perhaps 
it wa8 not intentional that the day was not named, It 
seems strange that no inquiry was made at the big house or acrosi 
fence or at the store, Surely it doesn't 
seem likely the lady would be expecting me to sit 84 hours 
of the day from December to July, never stirring out 
into Hie f garden, awaiting an unannounced visit, And the fact thai 
I haven t been anywhere exoept'on Saturday night to the Sand oamj 
makes me feel this letter is more than anything an alibi 
for not having made the long promised visit * I 
cannot but wonder, not about the truth of the statement, but the 
for having failed to establish contact, I cannot help 
believing that if she had been very anxious to wee 
me, she would not have had great difficulty in tracking me 
down, had she, indeed, made it as far as the Yucca 


During the day, several more butterfly lilies unfolded 
in thesemi-circular bed at the edge of 

the gallery in front of my boudoir door and their fragrance 
is floated in my direction by a gentle breeze from 
the girrection of the &ulf, I must say this 
heavenly fragrancd tends to make desk wort a pleasure 
from this vantage point, 

This wording, thinking of the Cane^iver Memo 
t,hat will appear tomorrow, —about Mormon 
*letcher and Hack rition, I forwarded a L and of Uncle 
T om pldpe to each of them, by way of encouragement in their 
current efforts in that direction, x he real reason for 
the article itself is hidden away towcrt^the end, where I 
say Something about a rumor that the size W the 
grave might be conveyed to the Parish, a I 

hope Messrs Evens and forthom may turn into a reality,,,,,. 








Francois Mi6non Papers* #11-5889 


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I enclosed the R, E • A, publication in today's 
Enterprise % I have another copy and shall get to read 
it eventually• I understand there is some summation 
of the scuffle or perhaps of the virtues of various people 
in this issue, I f you are busy, 1 should bother to 
wade through it. 

The re-count petition came up before the u ourt 
today and the Judge set August 25th for a hearing, 

Nobody seems much worried about the matter although thin 
there will be some relaxation of nerve tensions all a round 
when the thing is finally settled, —settled in the right 
direction, let us Hope while we are at it. 


i Being thankful to the weather for any favors, no 
matter how small, I was d elighted with the 
one tenth of an inch of moisture this afternoon. 

It had the nature of a good heavy dew and as it remained cloudy 
until sundown, nothing that fell evaporated, 

The R ed Cross telephoned me this afternoon to ask about 
dome point or other regarding some foreign post and 1 learned 
that Carmen is expected batik from her jaunt 
to California tomorrow afternoon. Whatever use 
the R ed Cross is going to make of it its 

local telephone had better be done before her a rrival for 
she loves to give detailed a ccdunts of Her travels, usually 
mile by mile and minute by minute and she will be having 
lots to tell to lots of people and I have no doubt I shall 
be one of the lucky ones to get all the finer points if 

T . ■? 1 -4- . V- „ J- ... -mi, Inhnnn 


I am so unlucky as to be at my desk'when my 'phone rings 


Mrs, Walker 'phoned, asking me if I 
should like to give the lady doctor a buss. She said she 
had talked with her at noon and found her much depressed. 

Of course I should be delighted to try bouncing a sunbeam 
but I gather the receiver at the Worsley menage must be off 
the hook, What with a busy signal being the only thing 
I ever seem to get in the half dozen tries I have made, 

Don 1 3 bankrupcy in the^orden matter meant that 
all his wife's property roasincluded in the final judgement 
so that the lady doctor had to buy back even her 
own furniture which she had purchased originally with 
which does seem a little rough, . 


her own money 


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10001 


10000 



Friday, July 24th, **959* 


Memorandums 

To everyone's surprise and delight, the weather followed 
tt\e same pattern today except that when it got around to make 
a lot of racket about noon, it actuaLly made good its 
threats and came through with a nice one inch of rain. 

Fortunately, the sky remained % cloudy all afternoon so there 
was no evaporation and vegetation got a maxtmum of good 
out of it, *• 

An invitation to the Breasaale-Gunningham wedding today 
came at just .the time I was worrying about what to do with 
some of the prrimitive paintings of recent date and I 
made the most of ,the opportunity to dispose of at least 
one by preessing it in to service as a wedding present, 

I selected a Baptisin' that had little virtue but 

since most people don't know that difference between an interesting 

or uninteresting primitive painting, I thought this one 

would serve very nicely for a bridal gift, especially 

as I am but little acquainted with either the prospective 

bride or grom but probably drew ai invitation solely on 

the recommendation of one o.r another of the participant's 

parents, 

Mrs, Walker 'phoned me this morning to ask what 
I thought a bout inviting Ann Williams Britton to head the Advertising 
Department of The enterprise, I take it the paper 
thinks the wife of n one of the member,a of the local law firm 
might be advantageous as a bit of window dressing, 'the 
point in asking me, * suppose, was because tt was guessed I 
might make inquiry regarding the lady's interest in a job 
so that the offer would not come . direct, I discharged 
the service but Ann said sAewas about to take over the job of 
Chamber of u ovmerce Secretary and that she thought s^p would 
better like selling Natchitoches than advertising, I could 
readily enough see her point. I'm not sure about it but 
I am under the impresstn that last Pilgrimageik^b when 
la Walker and lp t Nj>i1&on were hostesses in tSI^fcieon House, 
they didn t hit it off too well, al though, jt^mas ~%rely 


I 


t • 













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OOOOI 


10001 


f.OOOl 


10002 


Sunday, July 86th, 1959. 


a vague difference of personality rather than any 
direct clawing that suggested a gap between the two. 

As the lady doctor observed some time back to me, Mr3. 

Walker is inclined a little toward the 

sardonic and I have no dou^t this alienates many people 

who may fail to .appredate the unusually fine 

mental machines of which she is undoubtedly possessed# 

, My bathroom problems remain unsolved although 
they are being worked on. Thanks to Hie noon rain, 
plantation labors ceased and I began feeling sorry for 
the crush being thus provided for my bath room which, 
dLthoug sizeable, somehow looked wearied and 
pinched when, on one- occasion I passed by Yucca 
and noted two overseeers, three carpenters, two plumbers and 
three assistai ts to same, all apparently bringing 
thought to bear on solving the problem. You 
will agree that no private bathroom was ever intended to 
provide space for so many people all at the 
same time. 

I am under the impression 

A letter from James speaks of the excessive sweating 
he went through on Wednesday. Brother, do I recall the torrid 
quality of that day and my response to the icey -glams 
of liquid proffered me. Even as I, so , he may 
be reminded of his own re-action to the heat a iPd humidity on 
that same day when he receives the letter I wrote him 
on the following day, recowiting my own misadventures in 
consequence thereof # 


Carmen just, called # She and her sister and brother-in-law 
got back fromCalifornia today. There was so much to listen 
to^ysuch as California people with the thermometer at 1 03 
every day, don't like it when outsiders remark 
that it is.jiot and they are opposed to installing 
air ciP^Uo-ting machinery. There was an air trip to 
Las Vea0T, ‘leaving Los Angelse at 7 p.m., and arriving 
b a ck atixtw m., following a night or revelry, etc,, 
etc,, andm suspect the lady may still be talking without 
the encojjrQgement of either an Ah or and Oh or even a connection,.,. 




Memorandum• 

, Too nice cloudy days with the temperate thermometer reading in tt 
80's both days, and an inch and aquarter of rain last night 
around 11 o'clock, being a side swish of hurricane Deborah, passing 
a couple of hundred miles to the west of us and giving us just 
the right amount of moisture and pleasant 30 mile an hour 
breezes. 

At 5;30 on Saturday evening, Joan Frantz passed this 
way to say that she and Mrs, Johnson were with Blythe at the 
camp for the week end and asking me if I would join them 
for a twilight supper. I would, But I did no go over 
until an hour later, wanting to attend to a fewthings here 
on the telephone which had been out of order all day. 

It was so pleasant at the camp and the food delicious, 
including steaming bowls of chicken gumbo, scads of different kinds 
of sandwiches, potato chips, pickles, etc., etc., and the 
whqle thing .topped off with big old earthen bowls of home 
made vanilla ice cream, sunk under fresh peaches, followed by 
endless rounds of fresh fruit, grapes, plume and so on. 

••; ! :• '-iv- f, \'J- flOO* VpM C S tit 

Conversation was brisk and entertaining enough. Blythe 
told me about a calico vine .which Miss Myra has at Devereux 
a nd asked me if I didn’t want one for Ghana. The 
vine has large leaves and short stemmed flowers, multi-colored, 
in old calico shades and I remember it very distinctly a s 
gracing the Devereux slave quarters. Blythe said she would drive 
me over to Matches to spend the day if I would go. I 
said we should have to see about that — later. 

v £• v • M-.o y ' - 'f f. . ’TSbttU tor 

o • Yhe ldies drove me home about 9, as the night 
was quite dark, what with the tail end of Weborah about to 
descend upon us, 

■ iv; ,«>: , . rMo ROW *'! 

My Saturday was a shambles so far as doing much 
work was concerned at ,my desk, what with a dozen 
plumbers chasing b a ck and forth to the bathroom where 
the tub had been taken up a second time and the floors 
put doiqn a third time. Finally . before the TV ■■ 
boradoast of the afternoon baseball game, the job was 
pronounced finished and I was glad, of inter 

interim of quiet. It was only g.d etgil, half an hour later 








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10004 


10003 


£0001 


Monday, July 87th, 1959. 


that I discovered they had cracked one of the pipes leading to 
+ho hnthtub and that water was all over the place* It was 
impossible to get any sort of servioe on Saturday evening and 
fortunately, I was able to rio up a bucket to catch most of 
the water. This bucket doesn t have to be emptied more than 
once every two or three hours and I have no difficulty waking 
up at such iiitervals to stave off a flood. I hold the thought 
that Monday's dawning may see the matter corrected, 

I laughed to myself this morning when CBS news out of Washington 
stated that Q-overnor Long was flying to Little Bock, en route 
to Hot Springs, the stop off in Little “oak to sound 
out the vtews of the Governor of Arkansas on the matter 
of the school matter of having two races in the same olass, I 
should have been no more surprised if I had heard the United 
States Secretary of the 1 regsury had taken off for Moscow to sound 
out the Xrem^in boys on their ideas on Wall Street, 

His noon J. H. mentioned that a nd Mr. and Mrs. 

Jacekson of Houston wanted to come to see me thi3afternoon, 

Mrs. Jackson is q sister,of Mary Daggett Lake, It seems they &ad 
passed this way last evening about 6:30, after 1 had gone to the Band 
camp and J. 3. had given them a little tour but they wanted to 
chat with me a little, too. I liked them'very much and they 
liked Hunter primitives and carried away three with them. 

John Wenk appearned on the scene momentarily, just as the 
Jacksons were leaving. He had a mighty short haircut, if 
not a bead shave. He liked his work on the freighter and 
made two .trips -but learned little, he said, as everyone spoke German i 
he does not understand. He had been home and was returning to 
JJewOrleans to get a job ©n a yacht, hoping for a tour of the West Ini 
before school opens How these high school children do get a bout, 

♦ V . ' ‘ - 

It was nice hearing from Robina but was sorry to learn Carrie 
has been under the weather. The article she mentioned by Sam Mims 
I am r taining for further study. He <8 Dr. Mary Mims brother 
and as Mary is a bosom companion of Essae Mae, it seems strange they 
weren'table to land the job of State Historic for S a m when 
Lyle died. Xhey tried .hard but did not succeed. Sen, in . 
the article makes the mistake of assuming that cold,, hard h \ 3 ^ or *£ al r 
facts about one or another historio spot may or should be of greater 


Memorandum j 

Cloudy, humid and just about right so far as 
temperature goes.in,high humidity. 

Fruit and aegetables are ripening very^fetst 
under prevailing weather conditions. One result.is 
that the fig was just a bout,washed up today• 

We are having/tomatoes from the Ghana garden daily and 
okra gumbo from the same quarter about every other day. 

Pat called this morning to say Dr. Dugdale of Horfhwestern 
had telephoned him to ask about a little tour for the 
head of the Mathematics Department of the university of Texas. 
Dr. Dugdale requested the hour of 4:1 6 which was 
n lright but a little late*for convenience, as,we usually 
8 up about 5:30 oh 5:45, and allowing for failure 
of people to keep appointments promptly , 4:25 is a little one 
the hazardous side, especially if one wants to get a warm supper 
and some 6:30 news. But 4:15 was agreed upon regardless and 
that was that. 

My day was.busy, as a squirrel's is busy, dashing about 
without muoh to show for things accomplished. 

The three inches of rain experienced over the ..week end 
meant many gourds would be op the ground and would ' 
require both gathering and bathiiig. .And then I wanted to 
attend to thej^ulbs, glass protectcrss-reflectors and 
fashion gour^^projjerly to conceal the indirect lighting 
on-thf beamJmkMWfina which had been wired on Saturday. 

I taBSfp'Ajil g off the removal of my long beard 
until i &§is lie 3:45 wpen I started to le a ve Ghana, 
only'to hear somWkne* calling and Lo. it was 
I. S. w illard andlsonw lady friend whom she had brought down 
unannounced. ^ 



From rho FRANCO IS MlGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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f OOOI 


10005 


" 0001 : 


10006 


Tuesday, July 88th, 1959, 


a ut 1 was glad to see them both and they 
seemed to enjoy''their little tour of a hana and the gourd 
gardens. I got b a ck to Ghana at 4:20, found no Dougdales 
a nd, invited the ladies to have a sip of port which tye accepted 
and then were gone by 5, giving me an opportunity to 
do a little more Ghana fixturing before 5:50 when the 
supper bell rang. Ibe clerk and J. H.were late and 
before ^ sat down, —it was t bout 5;4aL the Dugdale 
department, four strong, were reported* as heading toward 
Yucc a . I toured them until 6:45 and when they were 
finally gone, found. J, had just artyed for supper, so 
that we two broke bread together. I'was'glad of the 
,opportunity to remind Atm that the plumbers failed to 
put in an appearance today and that I hoped they might on 
the morrow since I was bored, bestirring myself every 
two hours during the night to empty the buoket in the 
bathroom to avoid a young flood in that quarter. If I 
fold up about 10, I only have to empty the bucket a.couple 
of times, —midnight and 8 a»m., and then use the 4 o'clock 
effort as an excuse for beginning my day • B ut the thing 
is a bore regardless, especially in daytime, since I m in¬ 
clined to get x tinerested in something or other and forget 
to gs dashing madly for the bathtub,every 18 0 minutes. 

• * 

Carmen telephoned this afternoon to talk through 
three weeks of travels■ but fortunately, there was 
an incredible amount of racket on the wire^and so 
she was persuaded to make another attempt "later", 
and, for once, I don't seem too concerned about the 
'phone being put in order, hoping that California may 
in the mean time sink behind the mountains of 
immediate concerns and so be left shelve* for a while 


, I was puaaled by one item in t* 
addressed to Blythe, returned with a 
that the addressee had moved and a Is 
.Die name, street and Humber, the c it) 
correct on the envelope, which I anal 
forwarded again a>»d she can do what l 
complaining to her local postal authr* 
reminded me of the letter 1 received 


B , —a letter 
p notation 
a requested. 

were 

ther and 
about 

mvieo. i* 

from Mrs, Stirling, 


Memorandum ; ,, V.. 

A lovely hot, humid summer's day, with only 
a. suggestion of a shower for a few moments at noon. 

° radius o/ 500 ■«••• a °°° rit "° 

• ' " U “ . • , * . > 1 \ * 1 

My cat naps continue throughout the' night 
as pressure of other business seems to have prevented 
the plumbers from attending tp my bath room pipes. These 

If, i U + P V h9 £* p u 9 requiring the emptying of 

the bucket every two hours. , he way the local J J 

water system is hooked up, the valve cutting off water 
to one *™se, cuts off the water to all the others. 

»ere this not so and were it possible to cut off 

Yucca from, the house across the fence, I should, of course 

o/vat.'r moult ca U »Y ** 
/it in that qdarter, I continue my chores daily and 

+h 9 » tlV and ' s ?» naturally, don't sleep a ny more soundly 
than a nurse, conscious that a patient must be given 
medecine every 80 minutes and so never gets much more than 
a cat nap, with sudden starts half a doaen times dur'lng 
the two hour period. It's a tiresome and 9 

unnecessary business since the thing could so eatMy be fixed 
m five minutes by a plumber buteveryone is toe dull/ to 
consider sueh a minor matter at the moment, < “ 

aao h 1 whirl oontinues at a great rate for the 

n t Ver 9et 2 ° hl *nce to have any fun. J. s. 

i h * b ii il U8e on faturday because Dee and Celest had 
to go to toum in the morning for a party and 4 

a °hange, fly back to town for the 
W Vnin^+ Saturdayafternoon at bridge. J. H. dined with us 
again t oday because and C eles t e had to 3pend the d 
at the ountry Club wi&h their girl friends. Life, 
it must be conceded, ie confining for the ladies who 
never have an opportunity to go any place-or have any fun. 


with the rubber stamp notation that there was no post office 
named Wakefield , in Louisiana. J guesmjoe are lucky we 




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ao!>0! 


10007 


eoooi 


10008 


Wednesday, July 89th, 2959. 


Madam Millspaugh telephoned this morning, explaining 
she had tried several times of late but un~ 
successfully, &he had received my note regarding 
the under the w weather situation in which I found myself 
when last she passed this way, Wednesday of last week, She 
said I either exaggerated the general tenor of 
my reception of her and her companion in my own mind or 
else she must have been exceedingly dulll in not being 
aboe to notice anything unusual in anybody's behavoir, 

I felt she was lying like a trooper but it was certainly 
very kind of her. 

Some BatonRouge people, contacting J, H, this morning from 
town, passed this way• They are from Longwood Plantation 
near the country place of Dr, Slaughter on the Mississippi 
road, which seems to be the same name as the 
plantation of Colonel Pugh I used to know on-B a yooux 
Lafoourche, Carmen telephoned me thisafternoon to say 
that they had stopped in town, en route from Dallas to 
Baton “ouje and asked her to telephone J, H, ’in 
their behalf, b einp acquaintances of the S, 0, Henry s, 
and having once visited Melrose 30 years ago. They 
asked Carmen if she was acquainted with "that mulatto" 
they had heard about who lived in the original Yucca 
house. They thought his name Francois, How Miss Cammie 
would have loved that, 

f r ' i T<tlle U °f 1Iev} Orleans, dropped in for 
a little Ghat around 5 o clock. She seemed quite her 
usual seipand had much to tell me about the new 
summer house she is building in her garden for her son’s 
pets, the son being 10 or something of the sort, She 
explained that at^the moment he has four snakes he especially 
7 7 0n %? 9 °P h * r , one a large Anaconda, and Heaven knows 
what aH, She doesn t object to them roaming a bout 

in 6 V th8 temperature is at 76, which, 

S. Gi J v * unidit V season, makes things 

hlLTlhJ^ d °° r8 " r i r J he human8 8ha rm the place with the reptiles 
hence the new guest house which can be maintained at the 

£1 0 J P er . te l m P era j tu Te for these special members of the household, 
ire certainly do know some extraordinary: people. 

On excellent authority I learn that^the somewhat 
costly vacation tour (Governor leng has been taking is paid for 
by contractors, "hen new funds are required, they are simply 


Memorandum < 

pure summer, with ju3t a dab of thunder, a spanking 
4 o'clock breeze and no rain, 

’ ; ’ , , I m V • ' • 

My laugh erne after supper tonight from a 
conversation with Mr,\Lee, Lee Ferrier, one of the newer 
overseers whom I am prepared to like. 

After much scuffling with many men last Thursday, Friday 
and Saturday, Mr, Lee made a special trip from store to Yucca 
to assure me everything was in perfect order in my bathroom, 

I expressed both gratitude and joy and Mr, Lee departed and I 
discovered the much too much talked about leak I discovered 
shortly thereafter. On Monday J , H, reported that 
wliite lead would fix up whatever was wrong and it would be procured, 
'Yonight at supper he mentioned that, the white lead had, indeed, been 
secured, and that a plumber would appear at dqwntng on 
the morrow, I expressed further joy. Half hour 
after supper, Mr, Lee and the plumber appeared at 
Yucca, — Mr, lee explaining he wanted to see what, if <n ything 
was wrong with the plumbing, I assured him I should be 
delighted to show him and, equal to my word, did so. 

On inspecting the cascade from the pipe, he said with 
surprising nonchalance that last week he had realized that what 
was required for the-pipe was a rubber washer and that 
the supply house had been unable to supply one at the time but 
he hoped they might be able to do so on the morrow, I'assured 
him I concurred with him in that hope and he and 
the plumber departed, K < 

I could be wroilm but- somehow all this story doesn’t seem to 
jibe exactly, especially the Saturday declaration of delight 
that everything had been fixed and was in perfect order. And 
so tonight I shall continue my fitful sleeping and the emptying of 
the bucket at 9, 11, 1, 3, 5 and-so on but l'm always up at 
5, even as I am at 9 , and if I live out tonight, 

I might even,get a dab of bucketless rest on the morrow, I 

hops, .. •" " 1 •« V • *** : 











s-t.' 


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10009 


Carmen called this morning to ask if she might bring 
down Bill somebody and wife, the nice folks living 
in 94th Street, the B ill part of the duo being 
a n actor, It was an excellent time to pick up three 
pictures the artist had done for Carmen and, I said s " B y 
all means, Ihey came at 4:30, and in typical Carmen 
fashion shq brought not only ^ill and wife but Bill's mama 
and Carmen s sister* —to boot*- Well,. I had told them in advance 
to b e out of here by 5. and they made it by 5:15 which was 
pretty good, but while 1 was glad to see everybody, only two 
people can talk", and, naturally, I hag no opportunity at all 
to commune with &111 and wife, as I had hoped I might, 

I didn't-hear anything of interest in all the chatter but 
I was glad to learn that James Pipes is mentioned in the 
Cosmopolitan article, a.copy of which I have not seen 
but have heard mentioned during the little session at Ghana 
where I took the biddies, Prom this information, I take it 
that at least a portion of the aritole must have been 
taken from something I. h a ve w ritten at one time or another be¬ 
cause I guess I'm the only one who has ever mentioned 
the name of lames in connection with Melrose, .Somehow I 
h a ve a feeling that the presence of his name in the article will 
please 1 fay and for that reason, James will be happy, too • 

I'm wondering if you found in the metropolitan press what 
I thought I noted in news broadcasts, —much less space 
given toelections in Hawaii that in the 
Alaskaeleotions when the 49th Street was doing what the 
50 th State has just doneOf course during the Alaska 
elections, Richard wasn't in Russia, there wajsn't a steel strike, 
and the Geneva Conference hadn t begun . —but still, three 
must ^ a ve beenother types of hoop-la if full swing but 
lean t remember what they were • Be tnat as it may, it seems to 
me ifhe Alaskan eleotion got a heap more space than did the 
Hawaiian over radio, at least, I am so glad that 
a son of Japanese and a son of Ch\ne$e parents will go 
to Congress I can imagine this fact qlone may have a profound 
psychological effect in the Orient where the 0, 3, 
seems to need all the friends she oan cultivate •••••••• 


JLUHU 


10010 


Thursday, July 30 th, 1959* 


Memorandum; 

Such a lovely summer's day, all sunshtne, blue sky and 
big, snowy, marble-looking white clouds that never 
bestowed a drop of dampness, —and withal, hot, 

I can't think of anything particularly interesting 
a bout the morning although it does seem odd that I haven't 
h a d any first class mail in some time, a true oddity, for which 
I suppose I should be thankful since the secretarial s ituation 
is in the doldrums at the moment, 

»- • " • 

, I did stumble over an odd, if not especially pretty gourds 
this morning, concealed behind the Unicorn Garden, I guess it's 
a bout 3 feet in length and a solid green a bout the color of the pod of 
a butter be a n, It has a long, straight handle, perhaps 30 
inches in length and about a s big around as a silver dollar, 

At the bottom the general cylinderical effect is retained and 
the same coloring, the bottom part, developing sharply , 
is about the size of a half gallon wine bottle. The shape is 
certainly more impressive as to bulk than to'line and it 
appears a little too much like a couple of different sized 
water or gas pipes, perfectly welded together, to be really 
appealing in an artistic sense, ut as for originality 
and oddity, it is really quite striking, 


My afternoon was a shambles of people, all of whom t 
were unexpected, so far‘as my program was concerned, JH,Wim ama 
and J, H, Henry departed about 18 noon for Hew Orleans by auto, 

The store sent me a messenger about noon to say Billy Hinton, 
wartime clerk at Melrose, together with his wife and teen a ge 
offspring to the -number of three, were at the store. Celeste 
was having a bevy of biddies from u arksville for noon dinner, and so 
I tried to pin down the Hintons for an hour or so' to gipe those 







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10011 


P. s. 10012 

r J)iia is unimportant hut somehow it seems like a 
little straw in the wind, ^he end room, beyond 
the bookshelves and Grandpere's portrait in the 

is a small door, leading to the west room of the house, nts . 

serves as a catch-all and refvtgerator room and nobody is ever 

there, A chair and large electric fan, hard by Grandpere 

serves as additional barrier, Ola Mae wanted to buy some 

Hunter creations, 1 showed her 4 she liked and I excuse.. myself 

/or a moment to go into the"catchall ,, hoping 2 .JjW Wjj jut another, 

when to my surprise, as I turned back, * bumped mt ^»*?»« 1. ad g 

u*o had followed me, 1 thought her tnvasion out of order. She 

took seven pictures in all and she also took a 


peace, *hat a time to call unannounced 
s, 1 had some of Celeste 8 
eir hostesss, then there were 
and then the telephone 
one, mine having been out of order 
Mae, of all people showed 
a ladies with her, .1 wanted to 
but. as in the past, found 


r J*5 r J 3 t We 2, a * 00 “P- 2s? °f other pedple made that rather difficult 

1 did take the opportunity to suggest that we might ' “ 

wxth a book under the title of 

Calioo Cook B 00 * 0 j old Natchitoches 

which I might compile 
I should hav . 

She promised to be b a ck'this wa 

heading into the St, . _‘ 

guests,after which the h tier 
continue on to flew 

she and Carolyn must have a uy 

have been watting quite a few months to discuss thi 
I think it,too 1 te to market it this 
bearing such a title, dedicated to the 
bearing many of their f 
of ye $lde fJatchitoches r 
pilgrimage item, I should think, and 
pushed by the Hysterical L a ides, if ene 
same t^ing before I can get this off th 

Well 


—She like'd the idea, I told her 
to ^discuss various points before undertaking it, 

’ " : ' 3 way within a couple of weeks, as she wa 3 

Franc^sville plantation country with her 

would take off for California and she would 
'Orleans for a little while,,,.! reckon 

Gulf c oast frolic up their sleeve, I 

--.— -,.ie and other matters, 

ar al though the book, 
adies in Calico and 

favorite recipes aid some illustrations 
j, ought to make a perfect tourist - 
would most certainly be 
if they don fathink up the 

_V press, 

we shall see what we shall see, 

* % 1 ' " V M* ** ’■ 1 ' - , 

o’ I tt 7 la h S ^ ’phoned last night, rather late, Sh e 

hV/ ' ShJ la .nis e r eph °i ned Cabr ° 1 V n in - r «*> fleans and to her surprise, got 
her. She said Carolyn reported the HatcKitoches-Cane *iver ° 

taken at r°t tvrned out *he ones 

nf/r\n in “S** » ? * ** th ° 3e Wil1 haVe to be 

over again. She, Carolyn, promised me Chaim, ointur** in 








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MODI 



Friday, July Zlst, 19 59, 


Memorandum: 

Full summer but the /leaf remains down in the mid nineties, 
and just 30 long as it doesn t get up to 97 or above, both the 
cotton plants and I will do well enough , I recall so 
vividly a year or two ago when we had over 1 00 degrees one summer 
for some 40 odd days in a row wheh both the cotton plants and 
J tended to wilt a little under the onslaught of heat , 

\5 ■ 

i * »a y 

I thought I was rushing the season a little when I 
decided to harvest some of the more advanced Indian 
corn today but I discovered that it was high time for much 
of it to be gathered in, what with the attacks being made on 
some of the ears by cardinals and blue jays in considerable 
numbers , 

I got only half a hundred ears at this first go- 
round but that was enough to satisfy my curiosity for the 
moment and there will be bushels to be garnered later 
in the summer , I shucked it merely by pulling back the 
shucks but leaving them attached to t he ear, I plaited 
or plated them together into a nice fat festoon and suspended 
them from the southeast comer of the Ghana rafters, between 
L c .nd of Uncle Tom and the Gourd Harvest murals and a mighty 
pretty color note they produce, 1 must say • In the southwest 
corner, between the Gourd Harvest and Plantation Sabbath, 

I suspended a huge collection of fairly large gourds 
of last year s vintage, most of them waxed, so that they balance 
off the corn very neatly and suggest the opulence tf^rhe 
season, depioted in the murals • 

t , " , ' /' . 

My afternoon labors were interrupted by 
a visit df Dolly Walmsley ofSan Antonio, a great friend 
, of Frances and Paynie in the old days • She is a kindly, 

inspired person and one .nclines to respond to her friendliness 
everyone * know seems So happy when a visit has been completed 
and at least a twelth month intervenes between this one and the next 9 







"■-y-'-i- 


r.nw 


t 




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10014 


10015 


91001 


Sunday, ^upust 2nd, 2959. 


I must confess it seems to me an odd time, this 
last day of July, to do trimming of trees which 
should be accomplished in J anuary or February, but at dawning 
I tooX one loolt at the vast and riotous assortment of trees, uines 
and bushes behind Dr, Miller's cabin which I pa ss every day 
on my way to Ghana and I decided there was no time like- 
*the present. What really persuaded me, I guess, was 
the fact that layers of vines, —everything from tie vines, 
poison ivy and the like to grapevines and wisteria had flung 
a canopy over tall dogwoods, magnolias, orepe myrtles, nandina 
and eaven knows what all, and in divesting these 
shrubs and trees of their covering, I came to the 
conclusion than there were so many things jamme.d up, the one 
against the other, that I had better eradicate two things 
of the assortment so that the one third might flourish, or, 
if not pwsicely that, at least survive. 

It was eneverating, epesica ly the falling of a 
large oak, already well on its way to smothering 
out more decorative trees, but in spite of 
the lther I worked up without great difficulty, x was rather 
pleased to turn b a ck and see what progress was being made 
before I hopped into a 9 o’clock shower before 
having coffeb with Madam'-Regard, 

, f laugh at myself for my impatience for January to roll 
\.P- U i d X, that 1 get busy in planting, the Ghana garden 
whidW ftils me with infinite zest every t ime X contemplate 
what may be a ttempted in that quarter. In the mean time, I 
a glad to get some of the borders in a little more presentable 
state and I shall he glad of the July effort when January 
arrives and I find myself busy enough with the Ghana project, 

The mail brought a note fronEd Mills of Freeport, Texas, 
saying that although his TV tower had been blown away by Debora 
last week end and some windows smashed, he had come through 
the ordeal without much loss, I must say I was 
glad to receive this a ssurance, for I had thought of him 
so much during the progress of the hurricane, 

I have a notion the week end is going to be less 
threatening, weather-wise, just ahead and I hold the 


Memorandum 

Sot-hot, 

that little Miss Lee was making the most of salt 

tide en J° y J in 0 a respite from the full ' 

tide of Lyme's mid summer heat, 1 

.it i’ o U • JO ' * - * “ ~ 

+ . . r* 8eems ,f° Iona since last we heard from James 
a,,, a Wife’ TnV^reX^Tn 

I assume he may prefer to have a Box number, as in the 
p st, and so I am waiting to hear about thdi, 

Tnf1f1 n And sea **"0 of Tames, I am reminded of "James 
Todd", as mentioned by Miss Kate in 

imu ,n!?? r V- n the bi ° 9 raphy of Clarence King which 
you wijl enjoy reading, —the report, if not the book 

i ThallVe Vi d H l WiU 8e,ld the ^ooKlaierbutt/lo^ 

i shall be glad,to pass it along, J * 

. , * recall so distinctly the little brick r : 

building she mentions on the c olunbta 
campus. It was.called Sioomingdale 

« ^ Jr 1 & 

- »r 7iiQiiv • - 

The neWs from Robiha concerning little Mian nnrmnn 
sounds vaguely unsettling. I hold ihe thoug^Ca^may be 







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10017 


10016 


merely tired and nothing more, I must confess I 

was astonished at her appearance when last 

she passed this way, She looked so old and 30 thin but 

somehow seemed less tense than in the past, 

On Saturday afternoon I received three telephone calls £rom 
various members of the Board of the Hysterical 
Ladies, each proffering their services, as hostess on 
my behalf at Pilgrimage time, should I so wish, There 
was a Board meeting on Saturday morning and 
Thelma, a s President, ran through the names of 
hostesses as a matter of course, When she mentioned 
Ora and Ann as on my list, Beth spoke up -and said 
Ora and Ann had agreed to receive at Beaufort % Everyone was 
astonished and Celeste jumped up to ask if I 
had been advised and she wa3 given,to understand I 
had been • An hour later, while Ora was at dinner, the 
*phone was brought to her, It was Beth, saying the 
ladies at the J>oard meeting had agreed that she 
and Ann should receive at Beaufort • Ora telephoned me 
this morning, explainin that it was running just as 
she had predicted a month ago and that when 
Beth called her, she had told Beth that whether 
the h dies had approved or nof, made no difference <. fo her, 
that she had told Beth last month she and Ann weren t 
dreaming of deserting me and tftgt was that, Well, - 
J„ H, hasn t f said yes or no to de'lrose inclusion 
on this year s Pil rimage but if he does. Ora and Ann will 
•be at their Melrose posts and Madam Cloutier can 
fly her kite, It is only a matter of 

course that Beth has never breathed a word to me about snitching 
my two hostesses, In short, she is a bag • 

I can't recall if I mentioned that Grandpa 
has a little brother for a companion and they frolic 
all day together, Both are young Toms and 
both jet black, Andy bro'ught me the first one and then 
the second, both from the same Hitter and I’m 
delighted,,,,. 


randum 


Let me see, if K aj> inch of rain is rnffisured.’ <it 
sixty tens, to the acre-, I must hr.pe swefftBo.bout 
ten inches today, - From Vie number of times I bathed 
end put ,on fresh clothes,, I feel at least six'hundred 
tone of persperction must have gore do ton the 
*rrJn, It remains too Warm tonifit bvif, 
thanks to a busy electric fan -I-m ro ol enough in spite 
of the additional mild heat generated by the fact 
that so m e news program about the Wv.shingto~Xrem.lin 
exchange -of visits knocked, out the presentation % 
of Timitation to doming. 


* personally 
no time to re 
nd 














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-y::. 




10018 


OSOOf 


. ■ ■. ■> 

___ 






10019 















Sugrist 4th, 1959, 


fact they weren t working very well, they remained 
ao wooden and so unadjustable to ever changing 
circumstances that , in spite of his dedication of a elf to 
the cause, he was prefented from contributing full 
measure by that very rigidity, 

Well, now the rigidity has been lessened, it would 
seem, —thanks to somebody who probably tan t named 
Eisenhower, Mixon or Capehart fsmile(, but. * 
perhaps the new Secretary of State or some such, How only 
Time can tell ifWbhe lessening of the Dulles rigidity was 
the right or wrong attempted move., 

I c a n't recall if I mentioned the other day that 
it is said locally that o'Ur Governor journeyed 
to Kansas City the other day, not to talk with 
Mr, Truman about 1860 Democratic Presidential 
aspirantx $ but rather to ask Mr, T, to say a good 
word for the Governor to the Internal Revenue Department, 

Social life continues a.t a rapid pace, with much 
morning coffees, afternoon bridge games and e vening 
parties, On Friday Celeste goes to Baton A ouge i " 
for the week end where Madam General is entertaining 
for her , I suppose Madam Regard, will remain at 
home, suggesting. that spmp antique baby sitting 
is in store for J, H, andf me from Friday through Sunday, For 
aperson who never has a chance to go anywhere or ha Vi any 
fun, the Jy dy seemsl to do qu ite^ well by herself regardless, 

Carmen called jtnts -of temoon, I think 
she is quite disappointed that v ra stuck to her guns In defiance 
of her sieesi'-in-ltm and the b caufort battery trying to blast 
her from the*Yuo^k hostesss situation . for Carmen 

has twice offeVemher eervioes which i have twice declined, pointing 
out I think it d important she be at all times aoaialabe during 
pilgrimage for fger-all supervision, whatever that is. Two more 
ladies telephoned me today, offering their services, and were turned dow 
although J- did engage two ladies thisafternooon for hostess 
service although neither had offered to assist. 

In short. Pilgrimage stuff is beginning to stir and I, too, must 
begin to bestir myself <n the direction of my down couch,,,. 


i v L’J • v v»A i 
% \ In 1 


4h o 


‘ Mero'pnnfpr.i * • 


■ * ‘ '■ Hot-hot „ : u V- 

J busy pcr.rrgh ''■"fr. bulh, nothing of great 
interest, ..-/• weft fjigd to have a letter from 
Jbmes bending hie- w Pott Cffiae box number, 

11*46, —one, /?iy fey*,. si?, * » 

x ?kS h } mi-nil f-t avbefore- oof fee time this morning, 

■ J. H, se'-n a couple of ladies, and they 

got a swish proud 1 in precisely that somewhat breath- 
i‘iking t whis, fygyr,99gP*& quite nios, c«me< 
frog. Dayy-iVe, T c wherei.ever that may be and, in the 
kindliest of intettioy, kicbked over the bucket of 
milk by yaking me- if- I thought there was any chanoe 
thyv Mtlnuse mjqljii-esnetine be restored • I told them I 
iot'btcd it ve r y muoh, I have had questions ’somewhat along 
t‘-.is line fro tf p tjter pilgrims before and although I 
>■ -to never given the matter much thought, --any thought, in 
fact., I gue fs l would say the reason fqr -such a somewhat 
surprising question must be due to tpe faot that having 
'.sard SO "ych \bout the place, and having so long supposed 
that natio ial s'krt u?«, sponsored by the Government 
">• t’.e o’Pi.'.rfUona or rigged up after the manner 
efrthe H.atp’i'ss present it\on, they always expect Melrose 

,be all r'lS-VflaAflJvt iwrhiph and are disappointed therefore at 
' its. iQ.'ewhai n^tarpl 'ippeaqanae, * • m- >.i-'•* 

1 > i. *’ ’ , 

In spi<%40Pf the fapt -that Melrose is « 

"closed", l seeded to have plenty of people 
l-’V’V the * ff-troioon, including some sympathetic 
souls, —priests from Kentucky, — and some very dulll 
and wives frcmHartfor^i, and just to round out 
V \ a dab of the movie people • 






I, P, u illard called Pi is morning to say 











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10021 


10020 


Wednesday, August 5th, 1959 


Carolyn at just called her from Baton Rouge to 
say she would be here on Friday morning to take 
pictures of Celeste, —Wednesday morning, 1 guess it was, 

I told I* S, W, Celeste wouldn't be here for costume 
shots, —it seems the Melrose shots before went 
dead on developement and shoul be re-taken, Celeste, 

I told I, S,W,, would be in town with the ladies in 
calico, receiving a couple of hundred or perhaps three 
hundred ladies from Marksville, La,, also in costume, the 
latter heading for Shreveport for lunch, I suggested a 
shot of 300 oalico numbers might be impressive, I, S, 

W, said she would call Baton R ouge' 

At 5 this afternoon, Carolyn's camera men and her 
nephew appeared unannounced, At '5:30> Carolyn with 
a.c uple teen age boys arrived, unannounced, They did not 
sit down but merely* examined Tucoa’- afternoon light , 

While walking to the front gate, she a sked for news of 
the Registers, She had not heard they had moved, She 
had heard that Kay had had a heart attack about a month 
ago, —OsQher speicaXists in attendance, Mews to me. She 
said she would return here with camera crew on Friday 
morning at 9 to get shots of Celeste in costume in front of 
the big house, I told her Celeste was heading out for 
Baton^ouge at dawning on Friday, Whether this changed ( 

her plans or if they were*merely nebular to start with, 1 don t 
know, When I shall hear from her next, I cannot imagine, 

■ <X i pas interested to learn that she had found Ola Mae 
far below^ar last week end, her head swimming and incapable 
of remembering messages from various people to be delivered to 
Carolyn, I asked if Ola Mae had mentioned the project 
I had discussed with her so bri'efly, She s aid she had 
not. She thought she, °la M ae was so unwell, 1 asked if 

she thought T would do well to avoid introducing a project 
through her presses, She said she didn't know. What 
either of ,those two hdies know or how much they can be counted 
on, 1 don t know I still think both , 

of them are so busy attending to" the urgent that they haven t 
time for the important but. perhaps that is because I 
have an. axe to- grind in pu liehing a book on the Calico 
Cook Look level. And so turns Tuesday and 
so L turn to. some mail and thence to 10 o'clock 
news and slumber,,,,,,,. 


Memorandum• 

The day m blue canopied with big puffs of decorative 
white cotton puffs, shading nothing. The thermometer 
touched 1 00 on the gallery, 

I haven't seen Celeste today as she had departed 
for town long before the coffee hour to join with 
Thelma and others in greeting the 38 0 Marksville 
ladies, pausing in Natchitoches, while . 
en route to Shreveport, The local tadio says, 
the half hour greeting was darling or words to 
that effect, 

Carolyn 'phoned from town a little after 
8 this morning . She sdid she was intent on getting 
pictures of the college columns, the destroyed 
"Horse ^oldier" bridge, etc,, but fLid^ not intend photograph¬ 
ing the local costumed ladies< receiving the Marksville costumed 
ladies. 


She said she had intended calling me 
last night but it was 9:30 when she had finished • • 
dinner and accordingly, being exhausted, easily unfcr- 
stand a ble, -she had simply folded up her peard, " s he 
asked for particulars about the Registers, not having 
known they had quitted Mew Oceans, 

• \ f Cl " w ^ ' • * 

Without regard to the first sentence in the above ,paragraph 
she mentioned a long telephone conversation with Thelma 
last night and expressed the hope she might g et the film 


f inished this month. She sidd she had a message 
for me with Ola Mae withut whom she had talked 
last night, the message being that I would be rece 
a letter from Ola Mae in today's post, Perhaps 
it went to Buckeye, It didn't come here, 

I asked her if she thought in view of Olp Mae's 
exhaustion, it would be kinder to withhold my 
book project from burdening her. She said she 







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rjsooi 


30C22 


J£OOi 


10023 


Thursday, August 6th, 1959, 


irVuTtl*vVnT^l°A a . ,ta l U wear ’“"■self cut cn somebody's 

projects regardless, she might Just as well do so J 

on those of her friends, 

=v, . She had marked earlier that she would be seeing me on 

iT 9 ’ 03 she had an appointment ° 

at Oakland at 10 but toward' the end of 

the conversation, involving much about her 
father s health, she said she would be going to 
Larshall this loeek end, returning to Hew Orleans 

I” “ ,{ el +h d ?, ija, J > it hapS ^ ueada U» and perhaps she would 
she wont* * WeU * perhapa V*U and perhaps 

th . JiVTSi telephoned me at 11 to say she'had attended 
the reception on the river bank for the Marksville 
ladies, etc, 3 etc. She said Hr, Byrd, steward 

d.r r if°ai tha J he hai ’ ,d3 « «» ippcutmsut U com 
over to Natchitoches tomorrow and that Ola Mae 

2 : —particulars regarding Pilrimage 

letter 1 +1 b€ discU88ed * 1 d o not expect the pla *ae 

HlVfrZ 2 ; Z7iT^\\iZo^ 

' Shturday, being August 1st, was the day for Old Ace 
Pension checks to a trive but all the oldsters 9 

were disappointed for they didn't arrive 

ZVthiZioninn** 1 }^ 01 } 6 Tues <lay, intervening between then 

°ohnn*dn + Z 9t , inter esting that the artist 

,L **t dawning to say she was broke and didn't I 
want some pictures painted, In view of the 

S 1nh\ n } t( i ken - ae la8t week, I'could make use of a couple 

T B P n Ut ? ^listen into the artist's voice, I suppose 

with 0 theuf 7 a*+i!i° n ° h ecks are « hgl P to- thedrtist but ‘ P 

la8 t^ng- power scarcely ever exceeding 84 hours . she 

to falTi TH b * unha PPy V I" 8 d Wt "ave her painting 
Zo fall b a ck on« How amazed she would be if she y 

^ nUch J 1 * 9 ? m V tn aome is than hers but that 
b f { a : be y° nd h8r ability to comprehend that 
it is foolish to mention. And Madam Regard 
conjided to me this morning that she Jiadn t received 


Memorandum : 

Hot and lovely. 

From now until cotton opens,—two or three weeks hence, the 
work force on the plantation is cut to half a week's 
work . This is a time people supposedly 
"rest up" against the approaching exertions, I 
accordingly expected nobody to lend me a hand today • 

Murphy , who had helped me yesterday, reported he jus going. 

to spend today hauling wood from the forest so that 

he wuld have an ample supply against the approaching winter and Murp 

Murphy, indeed, never did put in an appearance. But the 

dawn brought a couple o carpenters instead', and so I had no opportu 

to be either lonesome or lonX/ey, 

I set them to work making some benches 
for Ghana and they turned out two suitable ones for 
the south front ,> on* either side of the front door and 
that, actually is west, come to think of it, for they also made 
two more for the 3outh side of the house, too, re-hung some 
doors and concluded the <$ay by putting the 
big old sill up on blocks along the 

north wdl of the African House and sawed off the ends projecting 

8 or three feet from the base of the building, This 

sill is o cypress, abouta foot and a half square and 

as it runs the entire length of the African House, provides 

a most c onvenient resting place for passing Pilgrims 

or local gardeners, intent on catching up on 

their sleep, following a night at frolic, I suppose 

this sill from the great barn will be one of the more 

popular innovations since Pilgrims can marvel 

at its size and then rest on it for a breather while 

laborers (laborers ) will find it the next 

best thing to a Beauty Rest mattress when sleepiness and heat 
suggest Jieed for a resting of the eyes. 

Carmen 'phoned yesterday to sau she had seen Celeste, 
following the entertainment of the u arksville ladies, and 







rancois Higwon Papers, fM-3889 


10025 


10024 


Friday, August 7th, 1959 


had handed h 


er a ra ' blier large envelope, containing 
an 1861 newspaper I wanted to .extract some news items f 
for my next column. This arrangement was perfect becau 
1 was counting on secretarial assistance this morning a 
promised the ZnteFprise to forward the oolumn by messen 
this a fternoon. But when 1 cross the fence at 9 for ■ 
a dab of coffee and the big envelope, I discovered that 
-eleste had already gone to town and had not 
le t the envelope. It was quite a busy day. for 


Memorandum- 

! . • * 1 * C* 4 

Hot-hot. 

Celeste got off for Baton &ouge before 6 and so 
Madam Regard and I coffee-ed alone at 9. She had a few letters 
to read me, one being tp Celeste from Sister, thanking 
her for a birthday greeting. It is interesting 
that ell her let-peps these days speak of the doctor's poor 
adjustment to his blindness and phe difficulties his case presents 
to his wife, and this in sharp contrast to the reports the 
children always give to the effect that everything is 
just lovely, their papa so gay and well a d justed, etc., etc. 

1 Yesterday Carolyn had said she would make a round 
at 9 this morning and she and.her crew got her t 
promptly at 10:10, which was quite good, os her 
records go. They took a brief shot, of .the big house 
and then said goodbye. 

Knowing the local set up so well, she somewhat 
surprised me by^appearing again at 11-3D, just as 
I was heading for dinner • She wanted to take a 
look at the light on the white garden side of Yucca, *— 
a condition which we had agreend on. the last time she was here 
as being 3 to 4 for photogrcp hing successfully • 
did not invite her to break bread, what with the five people 
she had in her train and J. H., who dined with us, remarked 
that he had started tQ invite her but then noticed 
the several people with her. And so we so id goodbye 
and she was off 0 Half an hour later, when 1 was quitting 
the big house, the cook told me Miss Carolyn was 
at my house with a flock of people. I found 
them on the Yucca gallery, ——five or six additional people. 

She had already shown them the African House and Ghana and so we 







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es 


sow 




looked at Yucca, They were very nice people, live in 
Baton Rouge, know Madam Rnvenhorst, etc,, etc,, and 
there was some remark about it being so wonderful of 
them to bring up something or other all the way from 
Baton Route, This suggested that there must 
h a ve besw a rendezvous arranged for Melrose but 
I asked no questions, b y 1 :30 the whole 
dozen made motions toward going and. I did nothing to 
discourage the move • Cqrclyn remarked that she and her 
camera crew were heading toward Mansfield and that 
she did not expect to see Ola Mae who was said to 
have planned to be in Natchitoches, I thought I 
might be honored by a telephone call if not a visit 
from Ola Mqe but it is now nearly 10 p,m, and as 
there hasn t been a peep, 1 reckon there will be none, 

* t 

It was good to hearfrom Robina and to learn that 
, Miss Rormon is apparantly alright and back home again. 
Another enclosure came to hand unexpectedly, the May 8th, 
1945 letter Miss Cammie must have written to Mrs, Camilla 
Breazeale, mother of Carmen, Carmen discovered it anong 
some old newspapers and sent it to me and 1 pass it 
on to little Miss Lee,. ' 




My tomato patch continues producing generous amounts 
of average size tomatoes and I like them but 
I am especially fond of the small variety, producing 
fruit about the size of a thimble, I keep the house 
across the fence supplied with these which the ladies claim 
they like for oooking, 1 keep myself plentifully 
supplied, too, but not for cooking but for a snack 
out of the ice box whenever 1 get hungry It's so 
easy to^keep a dish of them>in.the ice box and 1 think 
they are so handy in the snack line, I suppose 
it must have been this type of tomato that nearly cocked me 
to death a year or two ago at the Rand camp I never had 
the slightest suggestion of such a difficult before or since and 
I'm glad the Ghana bushes are bearing so plentifully • 


I believe there are some other enclosures, The 
one from Mrs, Stirling reports the death of Mrs, Stokes, 
a noble person, believe, 
so rugged that I was alw a U' 
tie between her and Mrs, S 
common enough, 1 reckon , 


but one whose 
s puzzled to ct . 
tirling but then, 


WJ a-* U • W WJ 

personality was 
omprehend trie^sympa 
pn. such puzzles ar 


thetic 

re 



10027 


0KOO1 


Sunday, August 9th, 1959, 


4 


Memorandum• 

A cold front passed over us on Saturday, bringing 
the thermometer .down to a very pleasant 90 at noonday and 70 at raiding 
with the same pattern obtaining today, dazzling sunshine that doesn t 
blister and moonbeams that silver vegetation suffrfaces already 
fresh with dew, . 

. t. • . - x : t. .* * k Q * * • * 1 ' 

fJorman Fletcher called me Saturday noon to a sk 
if the Sterling Evanses had succeeded in reaching me, "hey 
had not, 'carmen called about 8, asking the same q uestion and 
saying they wanted to invite me to dine at Little Eva, 

Further she sayeth she and her sister and ^brother-in-law were 
invited and she would be glad-to tpick me up at 6 
if I wished, and I did wish, 

• 

We were but six, including out* host and hostess . 

The house, was charming and the highballs the best I 

have tasted, We dined about 9, — charcoaled beef 

steak being the resistance piece and the best I had ever 

attacked, “The fare was simple, the conversation sprihgtly 

and I relished every morself of the baked potatoe, biscuits, and 

green salade, not to mention a fine grade of saute me, —a little 

light for the steak but withal excellent. Dessert was sliced fresh pe 

under, cream and the coffee was first rate as was the creme de cacoa 

that followed after we had left table, W e were done by 11 and 

I was° back home by midnight. 

There was naturally much talk about putting up 
Uncle I’om s cabin, Mr, Evans understood there was-a cabin on 
1fagnolia but doubted if Mat would sell it, I told him I 
thought 1 knew where there were a couple on Melrose, 

He askaA me if I knew anyone capableto handling the building, I 
did, papa who has been doing things at Ghan a , Me asked 

me if $' would establish contact with him on 
Sunday and that he and Madam Evans would come to yee me. 

It is nojm nearly 11 p,m, and as the Evanses haven t put in an appears i 
I doubt if they will tonight. 






Francois Mi6N0N Papers, #11-5889 


10029 


10028 


Monday, August 10th, 1959 


Memorandum 


Celeste returned from^aton^ouge this evening, She reported 
h a vtng had a darling time but somehow I gathered it was 
even more darling at the homes of others than the General's, 
although that is merely an impression, 

Word from Oakland Plantation is depressing, Mr, 
and Mrs, Alphonse are much disturbed, ,Their two 
married sons brought home some friend with them, a 
Mexican youth for a week end, V ivian, their sister, 
q stand-in for Connie dowers irf The Morse Soldier, fell 
in love with the youtfy and is going to marry him. He has 
several draw-backs in the Prudhomme eyes, —he is a head shorter 
than Vivian, although not married by the Catholic Church, he 
is a divorced person, —and, miseres of miseres, it 
suddenly occured to everyqne but Vivian that he really is 
awfully dark, 


Another lovely day, 

\ ■ - t ' '' . . i % 

I enclose a letter from Hr, Hoel Simmons' 
wife, Sarah, without having touched the clip holding 
the negative, I don't know muck about photographic 
matters and, perhaps for that feason, I should 
never dream of clamping down 4 negative to a sheet 
of paper with a metal clip, supposing the negative to 
be a sensitive thing and subject to 
scratching when, thus affixed by such an 
object. But possibly with your, bright eyes, you 
may be able to tell if the negative has been 
damaged beyond use and, if it has, it can 
be so easily dropped into the trash basket, 


Ihe CBS program, the *orld 1 onight, originated 
from W?/L', Hew Trleans tonight and, somewhat to 
my surprise, devoted two thirds of its fifteen minute 
program, to tqljc about and ai 
interview with the Louisiana Governor, 


And just as I began the a bove paragraph, my 'phone 
rang. Three or four.^yqung colored gentlemen and a 
colored lady came over'here from the pea-patch country of 
Winfiled this afternoon to attend the ball game. About 
10 o'clock tonight, they headed b a ck for home but missed 
the turn in the road for the Bermuda brid l ge, hard by Oakland and 
the car plunged into the irver. My 'phone call reports 
one youth got out of the oar, the others drowned. Dark 
shaodws over Oakland, indeed. 

At 1:50 this afternoon, I heard a lady's voice on the gallery, 

I assumed it must be Madam Evans but it turned out to 
be — of all people, —Sister Frances 

Jerome, along with a sUTter from the convent across the river, 

I was delighted to see her again and was happy she liked 
the primitive correspondence which she had^fk^saen before, I 
presented her with a box and was astonisheWf a%^el\e w as leaving, 
when t 8he pressed a dollar bill into my hana wli&h the other nun 
wasn t looking, 1 t seems impossible to give presents to 
some 1 -people, no matter how slight be thevaluy, 

• 

So runeth the week end and so begineth a ngw^week which, 1 trust 
m a y have been and may be in and about Lyme , , , , , 


In view of the local rumor that the Governor had 
gone to Kansas City, not to discuss politics with Mr, 
Truman but rather to ask the ex-President to inter¬ 
cede for him in the tax matters now under investigation 
is interesting that the World T onight program ended 
tonight on the note that the Governor must run 
again whether he wants to or not in order to say 
the enormous revenues he has been accepting were not 
for him personally but rather were merely "campaign 
contributions", Accordingly, it is easy enough to see 
that no matter what happens, m-and quite a lot is 
h a ppening, Mr, Long simply ha"9kto put himself 
into a campaign in order to es<tope .the 
long arm of the Treasury DepartrS^nt's agents •* 


At noon, it was announced that several 











1C 031 


10030 


Tuesday, August 11th, 1959 


Louisiana radio and TV stations iooul{ broadcast 
the Governor's address before the Legislature at 8 
o'clock . .This news filled me with vast dismay because 
I envisioned another special broadcast at 8 which, 
even as last week t would elminate Invitation to 
Learning that sometimes, excusin' special features, 
comes then , But the surprising action of the 
Legislature shortly after meeting at 5 o'clock, 
in adjourning immediately solved that whole, problem and 
dozens of radio and .TV people in Louisiana 
stations were forced to\ig up something else than 
the annouced program, sii\pe the Governor couldn't very 
well address a special session of the Legislature if 
the members of that Legislature had already met, voted 
to adjourn and be-taken themselves home, leaving 
nothing but empty seats • » 

Let us hope this, sounds the. death knell of the 
Governor, so,far as hopes for re-election is concerned , 

It is true that he has the cat-like nudity of always landing 
on his feet, no^matter how far he falls, still, just 
as nothing is quite so successful as success, so, too, nothing 
gathers speed in a fall so swiftly as a politician 
who suddenly finds himself on the skids 9 

% 

There were several letters in today's post but Sarah's 
was the only one I opened, what with interruptions coming 
whyle pursuing the contents of that^one, and additional 
secretaries failing to show up. 


Memorandum 


An altogether lovely day • 

From the enclosure, you will note Miss D ormon cracked 
iip. Somehow it seems curious, what with the - cracked 
teing worked over time a few weeks and now and authentic 
red hip, I thought the phrase of 
• eport, - "talking like a nOVtiine" hit the 

on the head, at least for the person who wrote the line and 
recipient of the report, since both have been present 
the‘ "machine" has been working over time • 

My time was vastly cluttered up with people and 
js, both of scant interest- but I was entranced 
j good luck along about 3 o'clock this afternoon 
my attention was directed to a man digging a hole slap in 


Carmen 'phoned this morning to say that she 
had just had a rejection from barren Ogden who returned 
a story she had sent-the Picayune about' the 
Ladies in Calico on the grounds that Dixie- 
Roto.was bound to keep searching for original 
material of popular appeal , Carmen was provoked 
and naturally I was wondering what luck I might 
have if I tried my hand doing Ghana, if and 
when the photographs, pmrrtised for August, are 
availableJ* 


n i rn Si* f l e wri* o* this r b end of the river this 

pleasant moonlit night and now 1 retire to the 
back gallery for a musicale that will keep brisk 
the telepathy waves as between Yucca and Lyme ••••■• 






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tzwn 


10003 


10032 


Wednesday, August 12th, 1959, 


1 aturally, I oouldn t expect anyone to imagine what 
I plan for next year 3 garden projects but if anyone knew 
anything, he would agree with me, 4 believe, that , 
a parterre with a pole in the middle of it is no parterre 
at all,think I did not mention the subject of last night's 
Invitation to ^earning, —Ivanhoe, Mr, Bryson crd 
hii iiests agreed that iX is one of Sir Writer Scott's 
best constructed novels and at least one 'of the participants 
in the discussion recalled that he had been alienated from 
enjoying it because it had been crammed down his throat when a 
Sigh School student and that it had taken him years to bring himself 
around to re-reading it and, having done so a second time, following 
an interim of years, be both liked and admired it, Thts 
brought up a discussion of the question with the impossible 
answer: , .. 

Should students be exposed to the classics when, 
by youth and lack of ability to.comprehend its virtues, • 
the book can only bore them co\d so turn them away from ever wanting 
to read it or anything else by the same author on,reaching 
maturity, or * 

Should the student not be introduced to the classics 
their lack of experience prevents then from appreciating and so 
let them possibly but not probably 3tutble over 
the work in after years, 

I guess the conclusion was that getting a classic across 
to a student requires greater skill than most teachers 
are capable of producing, assuming even tjxat there are 
real teachers whose primary enthusiasm in life is teaching and 
not exclusively cashing checks, J 

?/aco / out ^ starts off the Labor Day week end paradt 
by wanting to drive over /ran "aco for a. 3 hour visit. It sounds ‘ 
almost as fabuius a3 the Lucas hejira from San Antonio for 
an hour 3 pause. Perhaps the visitation period is merely 
an excuse fop traveling-500 miles, the road running providing 
sufficient entertainment to make such a jaunt worth while and 
the pause merely a concessionto custom,,,,,,,,. 


Memorandum: „ 

A beautiful day but not not so nice as the earlier 
Part of the week, what with the thermometer starting to 
climb again# 4 » 

. . ' •. 7 ** r ' • •' 0 

. Ihe postman was so generous with me today, handing 
me quite a neat little stack of letters, including one 
from Lyme, much to my delight They are all tucked 
away in my armoir tonigh\~ unopened tmt I shall be 
be enjoying them before noon on the morrow when I am expecting 
ample secretarial assistance, lhere»were lots of 
secretaries this afternoon — late — becat^^jteo-sayshun" 
opens tonight at St, Augustine's Church ^little 
River and everybody in the negro section will' be there. 

But the secretaries had a way of arriving at the wrong time, 
or at least the interrupters had a way of arriving thus, and 
so I shall await the morrow with vast impatience to learn 
how things are turning with little Miss Lee et al, 

• . *. I . 

I gotaround to listen to Morgan Beatty tonight on the 
!TBC net work and was mildly surprised to notice he 
reported nothing at all, not even mentioned the name, on 
Little u ock, where things were scheduled to get going 
again, Fortunately, however, CBS, immmediately following, 
gave much space to the doings and L concluded?from 
what I heard..through that agency that a great many of 
the people making up the mob were young gentlemen 

ii . L -• 1 11.. . 4 -/■» A A/i o 11 a wi T* 


from the hill billy country whence the Ar' 
hnils, and one policeman, 30 years on tftj 
force, observed that while he had no doW^HKRy 
Rock citizens were present, he did not cbakce to 
re rognise a fare familia r to him,. 


s Governor 
le R ook 
Little 


Bright and early this morning pr eparations got under 


_ 











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10035 


10034 


Thursday, August 15th, 1959 


Memorandum 


Such a lovely day, especially because of the mail 
awaiting the new dawn and, atmospherically, because there 
was a lovely one inch rain at sundown to make it wonderfully 
cool and nice tonight, _«. 


way to connect the Ghana wiring with electricity, By 
10 o'clock the Job was finished and I closed the doors and 
drew the curtains to seewhat the effect would , be in 
semi-darkness when the lights were turned on. Personally, 

I was delinhted and my associates seemed pleased,,too, 

Murphy perhaps came closest to expressing my feelings when 
he opined•. 

"Somehow this here light proposition puts me 
in mind of Christmas," 

Murphy, vMfdoesn't read, is very fond of the word, 
proposition. He uses tt frequently and applies it to everything, 
I reckon tonight I'll be goin' to that So-sav-shun 

n M J. . .. /f J.1 . J. 1 I 1 /. ... **' 


As for the letter from Lyme as of Saturday last past, 
it was so good to have so many interesting details of life 
in that quarter as it swirls through dbep summer, J 
am so glad to have .such a complete picture of doings in the 
Old Dominion and to learn that in spite of all the traveling 
back and forth, it did provide an occasional moment for 
relaxation and refreshment, especially in .the sea, and, in spite 
of the drone of the jets, an opportunity topartbcipate 
in the out-of-door theatre. The color of crepe myrtles and the 
sight of magnolias, too, jnake3 me slap happy, just 
knowing that such experiences could be little Miss Lee's, 

, And may I hasten to say again how happy * am 
to know that Life is mine straight ahead, with not a 
single issue ever having been withheld, I had intended 
remarking something about the pictures of the H, Mixons 
on their Soviet visit but failed to. do so last week end, I believe, 
What I enjoy best about the magazine is the realization 
that we both are following its presentations concurrently, 
for anything shared with a sympathetic soul enhances its 
value a thousand fold, 

And may * thank you for enclosing the clipping which I read 
with the keenest interest. What marvels Science 'is really achieving 
these day3 and how wonderful to think what even more astonishing 
wonders appear to be awaiting us just on the morrow, 

There are so many things bupbling along every day Hr which 
we shall eventually take up for discussion and comparison 
of notes when circumstances make personal exchanges 
by conversation possible. 

If I haven't chunked out all the,other mail>.I 
ran through today, I shall enclose a yample or two but 
although much of it was long, it didn t contain 
much of interest, A card from ,"p» Antoine", suggests that 


as l was making a third attempt to get going with 
a secretary just before supper time, J, H, brought 
a couple of men to see me' and I took them over to 
h a v&-* m JL , t>ok at Cchana, gjad of the opportunity to 
entice J, H-that far afield, so that he might get 
an early look at "that light proposition", —and 
he seemed to like it, too, 

last night 
throughout todjm, 

ill advised since __ __ 

time3 during the speech’he shouted at hecklers 

"You stink so I can't think,,,G 0 home and 
take a bath". 


' the Governor had his Mew Orleans.speech o, 
Kicast over Louisiana radios stations 
Tfiis seems to me to have been exceedingly 
nobody was enchanted the two different 


Rumor has it his atchitoch 
Cooper, is going on a year's world 
think all the Longs might wish they w 
m a submarine under the Morth pdle,» 



I 


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oor 




10036 






Father Anthony who summered in Poland, must be heading 
this way again, since the card 3tem3 from ?aris, I'm 
always relieved when learning anyone gets back 
again on to this side of the Iron Curtain, : 

I wrote Qob Wilson that if he was foolish enough 
to waste a day's time coming from Waco to see 
me for a couple of hours, that was alright wiijh me although, 
frankly, 1 shall be just as happy if he doesn t come on 
Friday, September 5th, for I suppose half a hundred 
Henrys will be converging on Melrose along about 
then for a prolonged week end, what with "abor Day just in the 
certainly a mighty poor time for anyone to 
do unnecessary long distance traveling, 

Lucille Tinker Conahan _ o.f Cloutierville, a 
friend of ’Ira's, Miss Commie's and Lyle'3, came to see me this 
afternoon • I have asked her to be a hostess and decided 
I shall put her in the African House, the pivotal point 
of this place, at Pilgrimage time, , i haven't 
heard any more from Ora directly but I have 
no doubt both she and Ann will be 

here rather than at Beaufort, I assume that Juanita B • 

may be too busy wjth her baby to take her post in 

my boudoir this yeajr. and so I shall perhaps put her with 

her mother in Yucca which will put Mrs, Conahan in the 

African House with Mrs . Walker, I should 

prefer to have Ora and Mrs, Walker here 

but I feel ther f e is some chemical content in the 

one that doesn t harmonize with the other, dL though 

neitehr has eveer mentioned it, I must 

do a bit of casting about to find somebody 

to share reception honors with I , S, Wil lard 

at Ghana, In some ways the &hana post ' ry . / 

is She most advantageous for receptionists since comparatively 

few peoplf will probably venture that far afield and so 

the crush will not be sc great, the African House getting 

the full force of the advancing waves of Pilgrimswith the water 

particles splashing in various directions, after striking it, 

some flying off in tan geta about the gardens\ 

the main current surging toward Yucca and 

a trickle, 1 imagine, heading out toward 

Ghana, I can use about five more hostesses 

and shall probably be a ble target them without 

nuoh difficulty through Ann, Well, here we 

are aithe end of the page and again my thanks for your dandy letter 



10037 


ri 


Fridays "ugust 14th, 1959, 


emornadum: • 

Partly cToudy, fairly hot and awfully humid, 

I suppose it may be due in part to the fact that 
I so seldom crawl into "Sunday" clothes, that I feel 
to all hemmed in when get rigged up to go out 
into the social whirl, 

° C A05 r “ * ' «5 *’ ‘ • 

I labored in my gourd vines from 5 until 9, and 
after splashing through a bath, got into some 
summer clothing, white shirt and black tie>and 
headed out with Celeste, Dan Regard and Betty Hertzog 
toward the Cathedarl in town to attend the Breazeale - 
Cunningham wedding » . 

I suppose the service wasn't longer than High 
Masses usually are but I certainly felt sorry 
for qI 1 the people who had to remain on their knees for 
hours at a stretch. By good fortune, the institution 
is air conditioned and I was glad to cool off as 
the colorful pagent went upland down the aisles and 
all the business was going on at the altar, * 

FromChurch to t he Breazeale home which 
is very pleasant and the reception quite delightful, 
but aain it was much too long, especially as there was 
no place to sit, all the chairs having been removed to 
make room for the guests which, ^suppose, numbered 
into the hundreds, t 

Of course I saw lots of people^who 
remembered me, including I,3, Willard in 
a blue and white foulard that went vew nicely with 
her blue and white mingled" hair and I,believe she 
had a ribbon of the sa e dress material in her perruke, 

I was gla d to see tl^e James Livingstons a gai n and they very kindly 





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10039 


Sunday, 


invtntpd me to dine with them at their home which is rather 
near theRaym'ond Breazeale home, but I declined, 
o course, since the parents of the groom had invited me 
to break bread with them and their guests at their home • Carmen 
was serving punch and Be afort Beth was in much circulation 
and although I did see Ann, I did not see Ora because she 
is away • 

By, 1 o'clock we moved on from the Breazeale to the Cunningham 
menage where there were prhaps 30 or 40 people and much air 
conditioning and chilled champagne to help out,’ file 
luncheon was excellent, much sandwiches, jellies sliced turkey and 
so on and so on and the Cunningham rooms are large enough 
and the house of sufficient size to make spreading out 
pleasant aid relaxing. An Alexandria lawyer who is 
a frieng of Mr, Mixon asked if he might bring Richard 
to Melrose sometime this^autumn when Richard is scheduled to be 
in Louts il think Melrose holds nothing 

of much interest to Richard and^I feel quite si ire he will 
never come but that was neither the time nor place to 
make such observations, 

Celeste and a bunch of guys and gals got to singing 
French songs, Alouette, etc,, and it looked to me a s 
though Celeste was never going to head out for horn. Her nephew 
had had enough and,hopped a ride to Hew Iberia and I cast 
about and found some Alexandria people who promised to 
drive me via the river road, and Betty Hertzog, hearing 
of* this, welcomed the opportunity to call it a day a nd so we all 
headed out. Celeste enraptured to remain at the party which 
she found so d%fling, I saw hetheading in tdher house 
aboyt first dark'^nd I could only marvel at her 
endurance and rejoice wi^h her mother that the' latter had 
had su ch a quiet day of peace and quiet, 

Back home by 7>, 1 rounded up some' odds and ends 
and at 7 headed out for "So-say-shun" on LittleRiver, 

The night is lovelv, big moon and velvety atmospher, but there were so 

m a ny people I didn t remain long at St, Augustine 's, but long enough 

to see the artist, apparently as high a s & kite, with Pa, also 

with an edge on. What a remarkable woman is the artist 

qnd the only lady p e sent able to lean on the arm 

of a descendant of Qrandpere Augustin, meaning the gentry, 

Well, so much for my day in the role of. a social butterfly, 
Personally, I'm all in favor of those who can take it but, 
brother, one more day like that in tin years, End I would really be 
sunk . And Celeste leaves for a sold week of . . 

a—. 4 inhen ah* noP.SfOT dCLlldllQ iW oliS 


Memorandum : 

Hot and humid, 

/ half inch of rain came 

I gathered then in l«rge taotot 

l°o*W f; r r w Y t \l° t n7dllain 3 thie a ft 
rJjj^e^oTe e/n,e sty an ; 

Madam Regard °/ te 

j, H, and Celeste hav g -J ^ hospital 
visit Sister at bo** ■ * • ^ dney ailnen t 
taking t±1%££aS™s ^ife from tou 


son on Saturday* and an 
a sunshine in between 
bout ZOO# 

’ the gourd gardens o 

too nueh for many of 
burdens, the gourc 












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10040 


Monday, August 17th, 19 59 


Memorandum 


without interruption, knocked off the 'text for 
the Calico Cook Book of Old Natchitoches for 
which, hic33 ttsr Ins nearx, James had given me 
a great big hand, via recipes, whicH reached me on 
Saturday, along with a request for the name and address 
of Mr, Mills of Freeport, Texas, with whom James 
wants to correspond, 


Summerish and pheasant, 

In all the * doings of yesterday, and I must 
say I was sleepy, when I finally folded up my beard, I neglected 
to place the memo of the 16th with the other out¬ 
going mail and so I am attaching this one to it. 


I also made further use of the quiet by 1 
knocking off a column, feeling very noble about 
my industry on the Sabbath, the column being entitled 
Uncertain Huptials 


I am hoping you had the pleasure of turning through 
Life'& issue of this past week and so encountered the 
article on Tusca.ny, If you did, 1 'm sure you found it 
a3 pleasant an encounter as did I, 

Today's post brought a post card, about the same width 
but a bout double the usual length, It was 
penned by Blythe from Nassau, It spoke with enthusiasm 
about the tropical wonders in that place and said she 
would be seeing me soon, The artist chanced to 
be at the Post Office when I received my mail and 
I showed her the picture on the card, —eft elongated 
figure of a lady of color, carrying a basket on 
her head, not unlike dozens K of such figures the artist 
has done, but impressive to her because the figure 
stood along on a plain background, inspiring her to 
attempt the same sort of thing and so I shall give her 
the card to further her inspiration, She called me tonight 
to ask about copying it but I told her I did not want a 
copy of the figure on the board she is using for me but 
that I wished the same type of thing, —figure without 
decorative background and that instead of the figure on 
the card, L wanted a likeness of Zelna, She 
thought that would be fine, 


or some such, 

This afternoon, however, I had to give over to 
pilgrims , John Ky3er had asked me earlier in the 
week if I. would receive the President of Stephen Austin 
College of Texas and 1 said I would and did, John had 
to go to BatonRouge this a fternoon to be presentat so-me 
Board meeting .on the morrow cold so he brought 
the four people from the Austin College, chatted a 
few-minutes and then dashed on toward SatonRouge, 
the guests remaining to chat with me for an hour or so. 

They seemed to be kindly enough but dull enough, too, 

• 

I was mildly surprised today at dinner when Celeste 
remarked that Mrs, W a lker had lied abo ut Lloyd Wenk in 
the R, E, A, article, I naturally asked in what 
particular and 3hesaid Lloyd had been mentioned as a law student 
whereas 1 he was actually a pre-medical student, I have 
^ heard J, H, mention th-at Lloyd was going to'~ study law, probably 1 
paying much attention to such a’ detail but it seems 
that Mrs, W a lker lied, Oh,brother'. 

About 9 o'clock tonight, just after I had 
returned from antique baby-sitting, the Walkers came 
and lingered on until nearly £2 which was too long I 
must say, ut the night is pretty and it 

was pleasant walking with t hem to the gate when they finally mad*_ 
up their minds. So a new week begineth and so I begin folding 

up my beard,,,,,,,,,, 


Since 1 mentioned she 'phoned ne, you may have 
J. ready concluded that local phone service has been restored, 
I should say it is about time, —from Friday night until 
mid Monday morning, which, even in the leisurely 
South, seems a little too leisurely, 












10043 


10042 


Tuesday, August 18th, 19 59 


Memorandum 


afternoon, Vie ootton is beginning to open and the 
gourds are beginning to drop, and what with vegetation 
looking so pleasantly green, I reckon we may have had 
enough rain fora while but the father Burea says more 
rain straight ahead. 

In the day's post came the enclosure from Ola Mae 
dated July 17th which just goes to show something or 
other, 

I had written her, asking if she wished me to ship 
the .manuscript to her-or if, as 1 hoped, she would 
make a little round to this bend of the river in order 
that we might discuss such points as illustrations, 
titles with an old Natchitoches flavor for the 
individual recipes, etc,, etc, Perhaps I did not read her 
note correctly but, be that as it may, I must 
confess from this note I cannot say I know any more 
than I did before as to whether she wants me to forward 
the manuscript to her or if she plans to come down or what, 
doesn't seem to be the first time I have been puzzled by her 
communications which, like everything else, I suppose, 
may he said to be dashed off in such a rush that not efen 
the writer o the correspondence is quite sure about 
even the month, let alone the balance of the message • 

Tonight's local "adio reported in 
its news cast that J%, H, Henry, is taking 
some insurance company to Court over the damage of 
a pecane tree which a wrecker service^ for a tomobile 
justabout wrecked when they used the tree to tie their 
hoisting chains on to move an automobile that had gone 
into the ditch just below the spillway early in July • 

I believe Pat is acting as J, H, 's boyer, and as 


and set him on the high road to success, Horace 
Hughes and wife, who had accompanied J, H, and Celeste, 
observed as they all were leaving the hospital that if 
Sister pould remain but a couple of days longer in 
the Sanitarium she undoubtedly would be running 
the whole place from top to bottom in the strident 
fashion she, and only she, would consider correct v 

' , . . ,. \ -• ,. ,, ... * . ir r - ; 

1 • • r ' 

I heard Invitation to Learning's dtscusioon 
of Descartes Discourse on Method tonight, I found 
it worth listening to although every philosopher 
seems to have put so much vebiage in his own fine spun 
theories that one does seen to have to do a heap 
of wading to get a morsel or orginality that makes 
much d fference either way or much sense « 

The plantation is buzzing over the arrest of 
two or three field hands who qre said to hajfe been 

engineering sgles of, cattle +,Mloj\giXkg Jia £lk£ plantation, __ 

and several of them are in jail tonight, J, H, and 
I supped alone tonight and it was a greed that a 
discouragement of cattle stealing at this time might 
well tend to discourage pecane stealing a little 
later in the season • v 

„ In the horticultural section, 1 was entranced this 
morning at dawning when, s tepping out on the front * 
gallery to give the Utopian boys their saucer-.of milk, 

I caught a breath of that erotic perfume that 

is the unmi3t keable herald of the .flowering of the 

giant elephant ears* a musk'and spice that has r no parallel 

in.plant perfume • Although a foot long, it is an elusive flower, 

concealing itself c2oss.-tq the stem of the leaf . My brief search 

was in vain but this a.ftertioon I discovered it, along with two 

others which tonight grace my desk, gracefully undulating 

with each tap on this keyboard, each blossom reminding me so 

much of thos exaggerated, endlessly pointed toes 

of the shoes the IZth century da7idies were wont to effect . but 

usually the shoes were scarlet whereas the blossoms Jrre 

Saffron » And now to the mail before calling it a day,,,,,,, 










Francois Hisnon Papers. #11-3889 


10045 


10044 


Wednesday, August 19th, 1959 


a man active in insurance himself, Pat ought to be able 
to approach the case with some dexterity, I should 
think, I recall the tree episode when it 
happened and Juanita B • did -Pa* came down 

totake some pictures of the trunk where the bark was all torn 

Afterward, Juanita B, came to see me and took a snapshot 

of Ghana hut I haven't seen the picture and so haven't 

been able to s end it along, I intended asking her how 

the Ghana likeness came out but what with one thing or aether, 

did not get around to 'phone her, during this last 

week, it was said she was expecting her baby cny day and so I 

one may expect to hear the rustle of the old stork's wings 

any minute, ’ 


Memorandum t 

Hot and humid and fair and d though there 
was much rumbling when a few cloud3 a> peared over 
the Montrose hills, the big old thunder heads retreated 
and, for one day at least, nobody seems to have been 
spattered by so much as a sprinkle • 

From across the fence at coffee this morning, I 
learned that uanita B, who had gone to the hospital 
in response to unmistakbgble signs, had not as yet become 
a mother. At supper nobody had heard any report 
from that direction and as Celeste had gone to the 
Country Club to spend the day, right after coffee, I 
suppose that s'ource of information regarding vital 
statiscs will not be functioning until the morrow, 

And speaking of the social whirl, I learned from the 
clerk in whom Celeste confides in such matters, that 
she is shifting her card playing fYom one bracket 
of old rtends to another. It is interesting that 
t is year she did not go to L as Vegas ]pith Dee and Inez Chaplin, 
too • According to my informant, Celeste suddenly discovered 
thqt she was losing from fifteen to twenty dollars a day 
at the c a,rd table and that her friends were more and 
morerrohrentrating on the game and therefore talking 
less and less, so that thegame had become something 
in the nature of labor with the winnings being the only 
compensation for the daily hours spent at card 8* 

Fortunately she knows so many people interested in 
playing that she is able to find other groups like 
herself who enjoy chattering rather than seeking blood money 
and so tohile l the identity of the players change, 
the game itself goes merrily on* 

’ While I think of it, I want"to remark on 


At the moment, the plantation buzzes about 
the two negro boy3, eorge and Peter, who, along 
With Joe "ilsoil, are said to have sold Melrose 
cattle to Herman Cloutier, the mulatto and of the 
same family as Madam Beaufort's husband, The mulatto ( 
who obviously knew hewas s buying stolen property isn't 
pointed oui for'prosecution but the negroes, are, of course, 
were taken to Baton H ouge yesterday to undergo lie de¬ 
tector tests but I did no hear how they fared, I 
suppose it is generally agreed that the lie de¬ 
tector test is a pretty flimsie business, I recall so 
vividly the hilarious true story Audley Conner of 
Hatches told me when he was Sheriff, He said 
the Law in the Bluff City was having some difficulty 
getting the straight of sojne matter or other in- 
vol ving a negro and so a He detector test was decided upon. 

















rancois Hignow Papers, fM-5889 


10047 


10046 


Thursday, August 80th, 19 59 


Memorandum: 

Cloudy and humid with the saturation poiiit 
reached early in the afternoon when we got 
our almost daily shower, 

At 10 o'clock last night, Juanita B, and 
Pat became the proud parents of a daughte r, 

Mother and daughter are doing just fine at the Natchitoches 
hospital, The little girl is named Taine Elisabeth, 

Pat's grandmother Cherry,is of the^aine family but 
I know not whence cometh the Elisabeth*unless it be 
the Queen, Pat wanted a boy but is said to 
be tickled pink over a girl, t 

Today brought an odd assortment of mail, not 
much that I have read thusfar being of much interest. 

The letter from Bm Bridges, enclosing a copy of 

the Library of Congress communication, doesn t seem 

to speck for itself, I regret I did not make a copy 

of my response to Bill, What I did say was right off 

the griddle, I said I am always glad to act in w any way 

I can to assit the blind, the Welfare Department and 

the Library of c ongress but that I had no time 

to waste an projects that were already cut and 

dried in advance and that employed such things 

as the Board of Selections for the Blind as a sort 

of facade behind which decision, regardless of 

the Board members wishes, were executed or left undone, 

■I pointed out that the request in the Library of Congress 
letter struck me as being a little vague as to what 
was expected of those volontering toussit in whatever 
the Library wanted to find out, Hi at I 
had no intention of going a ny placmto participate 
in samplings of any sort but if there were constructive things 
that might be a ccomplished through subh labors', I 
should be glad to put my shoulder toljfc wheel, I 
took the opportunity to take a good, at the 

Library of ^'ongress Selections operavfoSs in hopes 
my letter might be forwarded to Washington from Baton 
Rouge, 


the pleasure I experienced when hearing a Capitol 
Cloakroom program a week or two back when CBS had as 
its guest guest the newly elected Representative 
from Hawaii, some gentleman born of Japanese 
pa rents whose name I know not, I like everything 
he had to say by way of responses to the questions and 
I thought the quality of his voice exceptional ly fine . If 
you haven't already heard him, * recommend his voice to 
your attention, should you■ chance to see he is scheduled 
for some future program within the reach of your dial, 

b I have had a busy day because I wasable 
to elude a couple of sets of pil rims who must have been 
sent by the s tore• to walk about with the 
recommendation they contact me which they n’ever succeeded 
in doing since th I saw them first so that they never 
got a chance to catph c glimpse of me, Hie gourd 
harvest takes quite a lot of imte and today I gathered 
lo<ts of mustard seeds, a little of which I 
shall retain for the^hana arden and the balance 
can be distributed among my friends, Within 
a couple of weeks, it will be time to plant 
ax autumnal garden, for mustard greens thrive from September 
until ovember or December / —whenever the first frost 
makes its bow. 


I also armed myself with a big paper sack and made 
a round of the zinnia section. The recent rains have kept 
the plants blooming wonderfully but the earlier flowers 
are beginning to produce seeds and so many of my 
neighbors, delighted with the splendor of the 
coloring all summer, haveaksed for seeds. With 
the first go-round, I got enough to plant the 
Parish and I 3hdll make a few more rounds so everyone may 
h a ve enough to share with his neighbors, too. 


The cow boys remain in jail and a couple more 
have been picked up, a father and son combination. 

These latter lived inCloutierville but used their 
employer's truck at night to run by back roads into 
the Melrose area to transport the stolen stuff, 

The two little grandpas are growing at a great rate and 
are screaming for some supper ,,,»••••• 





















10049 


10048 


rir'ay, August 21st, 19 59 


.. . 

Detriment doesn’t know a bout sugar gourds, long used 
in* India' successful.yn keeping^ deaths 7-^and insec. 

/row sweets housed in gourds y f Benson 

+hn+ fart they will perhaps he able to fly i.r, oenaoa 

over to India to liok into such gourds on their 

own hook . In my opinion, a poor /®mer in 

the tropict isn t going to raise gourds to £#»•« 

seedain the fruit, not toon *V ( “ r 

been applied, any mor* than I think Can* ive 
recipients,aJL food surpluses are going to do 
much more && grapefruit than employ them as 
baseballs, not to mention butter for use in greasing 
wagonwheels. But theorists ^ tbe^epartment cannot 
he expected, to understand any of that and so l shall 
what I can to lend a hand in the vague hope that 
if idlin', practice doesn't oo-ne of thaae «p.r(»> e nt,, 
something else may perhaps emerge* I toweling 
e-2t that gourds hold sqme secret in the insulation 
field but I suspect this will be necognijed 
J . lr ,t bu tropical farmers m the maigem, 

I talked with Ann "illiams Brittontoday at her 

"ZXl KXTM t, r%W llv - 

iftsr 

lr Beaufort h/t A n says her mother isn t dreaming 
or reTinauishing her Melrose post and so progably Ann will, 
nni.nn to r>*>t Lucille 1 inker „onahan -o 


Pleasantly a hot and unpleasantly humid 


In this morning's out-going mail, I 
got off a package of gourds, one box within another box, 

.There was room for some printed pamphlet or other, s ent 
by theGenera1, which I never got around toread, I 
believe it is a compilation of reports written by Master 
Sunday travelers through this region . You may 
glance at it or not, as circumstances go but 
I think you will have missed nothing if you toss it into the 
trash, along with the outer box and the paper stuffing, 

There is no note inside either box, only a paper*, 
sack, placed there because I thought it might be 
handier all around to transport the little collection 
representative of this year's smaller items, for your 
pleasure, after having had to wade through such endless talk 
on the subject throughout the year, 

• 

Beth called me at one o'clock this noon, asking 
when she could see me, . TWo o'clock was greed upon. On 
reaching the sofa in the living room rind seating herself, she 
declnved she wanted to know if I would do her a*.fcPor, I 
told ~Mr I should have to hear what it.was before responding, 
She asked ?je if I thoughtBea fort shoul^be on the Pilgrimage, 
I told her I did, &he said whether it whs or not was 
all in my hands, that if I gra ted her request, it would 
be on, otherwise it would not. She said ( 

and lied utterly in so saying that her husband wbuldn t 
let'the house be on the Pilgrimage unless some member 
of the family looked after the silver and family jewels and 
that Ora was the l only person to x do that and that I had 
lots of Henrys to hel p me and therefore shems 
asking me to relelt^Ofa from receiving at Yucca, 

She lied further and said Ora pr ef erred receiving 
at Beaufort but wouldn't do so unless I would release 
her, the re bye making everybody happy and Saving 
Beaufort for the tour.# * 















RS, gfl-5889 in Che Southern Historical Collection 
Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


From the TRANCOIS nibHUM rAftl 

University of North Carolina Library 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: ! 


10051 


10050 


Sunday, August 23rd, 19 59 


Memorandum: 

Two lovely summer days and, r emarkable to relate, 
each without rain. 

And equally remarkable to relate, after all that talk with 
Beth on Friday, she went to see Cra to tell her 

I had been just lovely and^cooperative and was delighted to Je am 
Ora was going to receive at Jleaufort She appears to have reached 
that stage in her developemeut wherein she.actually be¬ 
lieves her own lies, *he point in Ora's call was 
to say that she, for one, did not. 

A3 my Saturday had been an exceptionally busy one, I 
decided along about 6:30 that I wouid take a hot bath and re¬ 
lax a little before doing any thing about reading or writing. 

While thus engaged, somebody tapped on my door • It 
,was Blythe, of all people, inviting me to dine on gumbo and 
ice cream at the camp, I got dressed and went. It 
was very pleasant, Blvthe said that the natives on Hassau were 
full of priase for the Duchess of Windsor, declaring that while slu 
the Duke were stationed there during the war, the Duchess 
took a great interest in the nattpe arts and crafts, encouraged th< 

to revive them and furthered the pepula rtity of their creations 
abroad with a result that the whole economic life of the island ha . 
ly improved, Blythe said there are wonderful plants on 
the island but that every single morsel of earth has to be brought 
somewhere else 3ince the sand of the island will not grow anything 

l * 

A letter from Helen advised of Waco pilgri ms j oming this way. 
They arrived at noon today while I was diningthe 
fence, * must write another article aboutha^g§^itf0 unhappy hour's 
for pilgrims to present themselves, 

Die artist called me. thi3 morning to say she had been doing 
a heap of telephoning last night, Joe Lewis Coutee, a former Heir 
youth, naw living in Houston, had married a daughter of Hina Brown 
Hina being the mama of my old friend Elam, The Joe Lewis Coutees 
have four children, all small, what with Joe Lewis being only 
aboutSO, His wife was to go to the hospital today or tomorrow to 


veuuj u i-1/, i/ihc Jiwrwae mur u/vuxu yv vi* ujtvnvui/ itc i , one j cj. u one 

should be at Me}rose for the Pifarimage,, that was 
for her to decide and that if ai y home owner thought it ethical 
to pull hostesses of long s tending from one home to that 
of anew-comer, that was alright, too, She cut. in to 
say, lying, that pra preferred to be at 
Beaufort, I said'that wasalright with me but that 
it was up to Ora and Beth and that I was not 
getting entangled and that I would not under any cir¬ 
cumstance release anybody when I had no lease, contract or 
other arrangement,with them and that she could settle the 
matter as she pleased, 

, She wanted to see:3haria, .1 showed it to her. She wanted 
some b a by ban a na plants this autumn and I promised her 
some. She had to depart and made one more appeal 
for a release, I remained adamant and I think she 
was dumbfounded that for once in her life, she hadn't got away 
with her own selfish designs, What,the next round will 
bring forth, ‘eaven alone knows but I was careful to report 
the whole business to Ann at the Chamber of ^ omMerce, asking her 

o repeat the whole thing to her mother beofre Beth could 
twist and distort whatever I said or did not say. 

About 5 o'clock, the Lost ford, of d 1 people, 
appeared unannounced. She 1ike d^th e photographs, the Introduction, 
theq recipes and the prospectusf$9»\erally which she carried 
away with her, plus a Cane M iverpTate to be photographed 
and other pertinent material, She said Carolyn is in 
southwest Louisiana, She says sheViinks the book 
might be attractive with pen sketches rather than, photographs, 

I told her I wasn t fussy, AJfier all, having provided the material 
it is up to the publisher to see about the makeup,,,,,,,,. 










■JUJSMf 





laooi 


10052 


hav another operation or child, I know not which, Be that 
as it may, Joe Lewie was shot in the head o?i Saturday e vening a bo\n 
died about .10 "by accident", The artist swore to me over the 
'phone that if ehe got shot in the head and killed, she sure wouldr 
be thinkin' it was by accirdent. She's so right, 


I saw Zelma at the Rand camp last night and was glad to be abl 
chat with her for a few minutes while the ladies were primping . Ze’> 
said the cowboys had sent word down from the jail for their Sunday 
clothes as they had just learned the prisoners in the town jail hai 
to go to Church on the Sabbath,1 had never thought of that aspect 
of jail life and find myself wondering if all prisoners are 
expected to attend Church services, Somehow this 3 trikes me as 
a pretty strong antidote. 

My attention has been called to a book review in Time 
o a volume by George Tinker, published by Atlantci- 
Little, Brown Company, —a biography of little Marcel, 
under some such title as Parcel Proust, the Early 
Years, or some such. It sounded as though nobody but me 
would like it and I reckon it woul' be hopeless to expect the Libra ; 
of Congress to,record it, i 


If I can discover it among all the other 
stuff, I shall enclose the very nice letter from 
Kqy, She really sounds as though she were 
intent on making batontyougea permanent home site, 

I,know not why but there ' 3 .something a bout the 
way she refers to going out and making new friends that 
puts me in mijfc? of an athelete observing he is going 
out to do his setting-up exercises here's something 
about all this that convinces me the poor dear 
still lives in a world in which she finds herself too 
much alone, —with one site about as 
good as another for pitching one's tent and hunting 
up new friends like one hunts for some 
special brand of crackers in a. super-abundaiit 
section of crackers in a huge super¬ 
market, Perhaps, if she would only learn to 
tsubstitue the word "we" for"I" when speaking 
jmNLj>la ns for building a home, that simple fact might 
|ZM||cats she is at long last on the 

rJghtAeojtdx the. letter fronRunt illie, it seems to 
fkiggest she is quite content wiV!h the world in 
which she finds' herself,and possibly suggest greater vigor 
than shere t ally possesses. She wri es to well, it's a pity 
she doesn t take pen in hand more often, ; 

« . — •* V 1 

And so I start foldin my beard, what with 
the hope of catching up with Meet the Press 
and Pace the Motion, and withal a little sleepy •••••• 


From rhp FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers# #M-3889 In the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North"Ca7olina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


Two or three white mechanics are laboring 
nt the gin these days and the cotton pickers are 
already in the field, laying is also going on at a great 
rate but that.is subject to the he a vy dews we 
are having and so I found myself this morning possessed 
of several strong arms, sent to labor in my vinyard 
until nooon. There were Clement, Ida'Red, K, D,, Mark and 
Will Rogers t not one of whom has the vaguest notion between 
any weed or plant and accordingly are of little assistance unless 
I stick with them at every swing of the hoe, Rut I 
made the most of Will Rogers presence to g et some 
carpentry attended to and I <f ould find lots of things 
for the others to fiddle with although 1 did reg et 
the time thU3devoted to pedagogy when I had planned to 
make use of the early morning hours to work onthis 
keyboard^ ' 

It was Ida Red's brother who was killedinHouston com inc 

on Saturday night and Ida Red reported a large wake for this comi g | 


Monday, August 84th, 2959. 


r. 

J&oni 


Another beavti ul summer's day until 6 o'clock 
while we were at supper when a sudden blast from a 
dark cloud sent things spinning, The doors on the 
front gallery of Yucca were closed when I had gone to 
the big house but they were both open when I returned 
with many windowpanes smashed to smithereens on the brick 
gallery floor. From this % take it the same wind 
that t bangs the doors back'and froth must have 
opened the screen doors with equd frees, thus enabling 
the shattered panes to land o» the gallery rather than inside the h( 


• 

A quick survey of the gourd gardens revealed many a 
fine piece of the year's harvest on the ground. As 
soon as the r aims ceased, I gathered two baskets of gourds 
and there will probably be another couple of baskets 
awaiting me at dawning. It didn t rain a drop at 
Montrose, below the spillwau af '■or up the road, just a little 
local flurry that concentrated exclusively onthis bend 
of the river. 


Memorandum 


10053 




Francois Hignon Papers* #M-5889 


10055 


10054 


Tuesday, August 85th, 1959 


Friday night, with burial in the churchyard of the 
Children of Stragers, Joe Lewis had never attended any 
church and his parents long since had fallen by the 
wayside, so far as attending Catholic Church which ofrmerly 
had been their denomination, But Joe Lewis will be 
buried in the churchyard regardless and L am glad that 
this is so, 

» 

And speaking of the Church across the river, one 
of the mulatto ooerseeers on Melrose told me today that mo3t 
of Sunday had been spent at the church by the s talwart 
men of the congregation, working mightily on the swimming 
pool which Father Calahan is having fashioned, ^t is not 
clear to me just where this is situated but I assume it is 


emorandum : 

Another pretty day with only a vague sprinkle 
in-the afternoon but a deluge just across the river 
washing the cotton pickers out of the patcty, We 
are promised a transcript for the morrow, astusual, 

<■ , 

I didn t getaround to mention the invitation to 
Learning program last night, Sometimes it appears 
at 8: 30 on the Mew rleans station, sometimes 
at 8, and, by good luck, I caught it at 8 last 
night before sitting down for our little chat, 

I liked the subject, Alexander Pope's Essay 
on Criticism, and was glad they quoted a few 

of the more familiar phrases, such as 

“ 1 \ 

"Foils rush in where angels fear to tread" and so on. 

It seems to me I once heard an authority on such matters say 
that Pope was one of the most frequently quoted 
English wrt'ters although comparatively few quoters knew 
whence came the lines, 

I wish hd were recorded for I should liie to re¬ 
read both the Essay on Criticism and the Essay on "an, 

I can't think why, but I don't seem to j 
know much about Pope al 
or should 1 say, throug 
I would search out a bi 

Ifiey mentioned'- that he wrote the Essa$~on Criticism at the 
age o 81, which 1 understood hen .to say, was in 
1711 and that he died about 1744 or 174 5. They 


adjacent to or perhaps within the borders of the 

river itself, 'The flood gates down Magnolia way 

hive been opened so the State ConservationDepartment 

can.do its ‘annual job of eradicating predatory fish and 

I gather that while the water is low, concrete wall of the 

new ppol are being built within the normal waterline of 

the ‘river so that when it is finished and the river will have 

resumed it usual level, there may be only .a concrete 

wall separating the pool from the river, When the fain at 

the Church gets going on October 10 and 11th, 1 

shall be getting over that way and shall investigate the la- 

out on my own hook. 

Carmen 'phoned toda with much week end gossip, 
none of which seemed too interesting, She did remark 
that Ola Mae had 'phoned her from Shreveport to ask 
for pictures for use in the joint Piglrimage-Hodges 
fpldev that is currently being stirred -up for the 
October doings. Without telling her, perhaps °la Mae was 
hoping to get some suitable glossy prints of ladies 
in calico to serve as illustrations for the 
cook book but that is only a surmise, I think u la Mae 
out of deference to Carolyn, wants to use pen sketches rather 
than photographs, Carolyn being short of photos, it 
is said. In this age of the camera, however, it seems to 
me photos would be more desire~ble than pen sketches, 
but I'm not very adamant a bout that points 

At coffee this morning, I found Celeste fiddling w ith 
her calico costume* patting it_ rigged up for the . ... 


Hrtings 
ways thought 






r From the FRANCOIS HlGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library", Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPY RIGHT. _ 


10056 


stressed the point that he reflected the 18th century 
to'a remarkable decree and then enumerated 3 uch 
virtues as order, etc,, to demonstrate and even brought 
in some eomparatson in his writing with the composition 
[plural) of Mozart, I thought of both of these men, 

Pope and Mozart, while recently re-reading Miss Stein's 
Wars I a ave Seen, wherein she pointed out that 
centuries have a way of not ending when the calendar indicates 
the U should but have a wj.y of carrying on'over into the 
next, such as the 19th century wars carried over into 
tfte mid SOth c entury, in the fashions in fighting, etc,, etc, 
'I?, /act engraved on my heart that Qu a torze carried over 
until Ifl5 and England more or less trailing him, I 
am inclined to think that Pope,writing in 1711, might 
still lie styled a 17th rather than an 18th century poet, 
just as I have long maintained that a pretty good case 
could be made even for Mozart and his music being 
more abundant with 17th century than 18th c entiiry 
earmarks but all that is quibbling, 1 reckon, dnd doesn't 
really matter anyway. Perhaps because I never gave it 
much serious thought, I have always inclined to think that 
the 18th century didn't really get going good in * ranee 
until about the time of Pope's death in England, for 
rightly or wrongly, it-has always seemed to me that the 18th 
century didn t really get a curtain raiser until 
* 1745 when Mme.de Pompadour brought an end 
to the uncertain Regency and early Quinze period which, 
up until a bout 1745, had been pretty non-descript, Well, 
so much for a program which was certainly an invitation. 





_ , n’ ^ o y ar ^ c nilr.rd Just called, 3he says the 
- Pual d, Schaeffers have moved to L cke Vharles which 
■ probablyaccounts for the reference to that lady in 
the Cast letter from Pel Chockley, 


statv 
^of Mo<n 
3t, Jos 


r y surprised toda.y when the major Shrevevort 
• CBS, reported a news item out 
a,, wherein a priest, 1 forget his name, of 
. , • . s a . is . h t!* ai place, was arrested in Monroe 

for runken driving. The Reverend Rather quarreled with the 
arresting vffiqer, maintaining that a State Police 
officer couidn t arrest him in Mew Orleans, a city 
where the Reverend Rather had formerly be located, I think 
J, a, will get a certain saJictimonious pleasure in reportinq 
that news item, quoting me, to hi 3 spouse .......... * 





10057 


Wednesday, August 25th, 1959, 


Memorandum ' 

Today the thermometer was in the 80's, the 
humidity in the 90's and there was only a sprinkle during 
the morning and only a half inch ofrain in mid afternoon, 

I gather from Texas weather reports that we are lucky for 
that neighborhood, around Corpus Chrisii and Houston, 
where cotton harvest must be at its height under normal 
dryness, from 2 to 3 inches ofrain have been falling lately and 
what with some kind of an atmospheric doings approaching the 
Texas coast, additional tons of water are jus t in the offing. 

We are promised- the yame thing for this week end but as 

the local cotton isn't so far advanced, we can take the dampness 

with better grace. 

After this afternoon' 3 shower, I made a round of the gourd 
gardens and found lots .of large jand small fruit on the 
ground, I was 'glad to get these into a soap bath 
and a dry place to recline during the night for it does cp pe ar to 
me that a soap bath does probably help somewhat although it 
is ce tainly no cure-all for decomposition in such 
humid weather as we are having . I hung lohg, slender gourds 
at the four comers of Ghana's roof, each gourd about 3 and 
a half or four feet in length with a diameter about that of 
silver dollar, washing three of them in soap and not 
washing the fourth. The washed ones give no hint of 
decomposition, the fourth one does but this merely suggests 
something but doe an t really prove anything, 

I said Gootbye to the ladies across the fence today, i s 
they are leaving early-early in the morning A Madam Regard 
going to ^ansura, Celeste to u ark3ville where the danotng in 
the street schedules make her so impatient she can 
scarcely a^ait her arrival at the frolic. 

If the dancing slows up by Monday, they will return 
on that date, Well, power to them • 


» » » • 








HHP 




From the FRANCOIS HlGNON PAPERS, IM -3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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10058 



OiHJOi 


10059 








Chared ay , Avgust 27th, 1959, 


iw'* r:st 




■% - tfVi *> 3*1 uWe and nr 

?''! w ’, , ■■ *-r*nt* *.« S**W*3 InbOj*, 

I' "' tr n +. 'it <ih'gnev* ,• 

a tr ” ' , or 'ollovnng day, 

in ic^ or row’s ? ip . n n ohitwryjf 

r{i! %c; in his prssin&f 

a '<+"** : .. . an , hay *arue5*i»S 

**«’• fnci^ncy, «&<3* h ?i%f r 

- , -.o 

t e tires* . j* . a v the '**f*re aepo r* 

sswntans^dfc^ttJT 

-• ; ' -r-r-'-T a ownet *y * * IE* m* -t ft? radlc 

*r:.e th*.MP*r ni^rrtmt v. t • ^I3e3 




Tirtos carefully t0 9 ** At A r *nm*en rfrifcfny y$&*+**V 

Shoe's priest, «*”'***& 'trims* 

«'-W" '‘*1*/*** «*'•’• -’t *■'.”•* 
,t#i< S»li%7!f *8 wi* **• ra<ii0 A* J t.Ho 

•/;; see ssr * 5 

„t,rv d *<* ’■rrv, t- .. 


.**'*•' 


7>n c : 

* . ir , >*r*v.V. ” hurid iny ’”1 th miph **rtshine and 

-. • bin olt .Ti>re 

•agattift the \Ust, on* only d twiW 

c';ewer 1 :i t h e e or7£ .-/t*r»»een # 

* 

,-rr•:rti"® s*tli oiring ny otteHtlot’« 

• iT suppose <?ci nr: : spt22W! - /r-/."'-f 

Hit J sucDect t/? -on,* e-enr-ftne^t 

"ro;:n^ Ot tfowRtnj r-r? ,7«ns *' e Ven^iwerh r v - 

th-n the nt21 injnrrund 9/ t > ree _?o^ » wftfcH e'^. -gntly 
hr.t pistvrc' 1 in the greater g vf«garden ~7? nijht. 
enough, not natty AWJ **^? n ’ " ” ' r ° ” * 

Tor'cy’* tmve rf The *n*9r?rtvi 're «W*gl3^ 
eay - 7»ut the -cWheye, ,V*er -frttity, Oee rg;/ nrris 
n4 J?e V^lsm but they cVe,*?/orrerf to cs 
residents of Cane Sioer, t he first iron, an* the JMrtf 
cs lit-inj on 11 tti e^iver. This is true ^ hew they 
■Kite*! vsing the He 1 rose Iocat<o ,v e a nct * 

45 e-r the CttMe Sltr^r 2ftno, It fire to rith 
, t ie weidinf of Camilla Hoove Crothere to ^«rJ» rerie>, 

v »r r3# »r ocrff < p referred to as amoiy -*-f:ose prteeMt. . 
thppose x sicy hove Vtgblo* yon ai^‘' +: <« t'nle n tceen 
ti'rpe a n*4 ?o you w<22 /i»ri It iou^ly dull in ^ 
glancing through now, so V V* 50 a *** for tine, 

you any ship it vrithca losing c thing. 








. 




She telephone, out o/ of'ier stnee yesterday^ was 
'oorJrtiiy a^oin hy. noon, today* Hr $* Tclke" 
rj led to -end *•* a n arti ?le <n frrec - 

* »iat nuMieetion is ©afcjerf that fs 4 h 
jT'te, Jhfre are photos illustrating the 

X9*9*V* 5b*r* are a /«» rinor ererrj .‘•ut 


1 J.fi-f* tw 
»»? 




-• i t«'' «• 

* U* * ' 1 

. A. M If 1 
















rs , #R-5889 in Che Southern Historical Collection 
Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


From the TRANCOIS niGNOH rAPtl 
University of North Carolina Library 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: 1 


10061 


10060 


Friday, August 88th, 1959 


they are of no importance, A caption,must have got 
detatched from some picture that wasn t used, for 
the caption under the African House picture refers to 
it aa an 188 0 building showing refinements in 
wood useage, Hxe part fn the article I lilted 
best referred to Beaufo'rt, commenting on 
i s attributes and explaining that it would not 
be on this year's Pilgrimage, I can already hear 
Beth screening years from now about that, She 
is forever complaining that her house is never mentioned 
and now that it is spoken of, the wrong information 
is given* If I can get a copy of the magazine, I’ll 
send it along, 

Of course Celeste departed without ever securing 
the list of the calico ladies she had promised and 
two ladies in town who have promised me the s ame 
list haven t come through, f shall do a dab of 
chunking via telephone, if it is working, on the 
morrow, 

. Last night, while fiddling around in the air w ves, 
waiting to find something by way of talk until news time, 
I-etumbled aver soipe interior decorating chatter over 
HfiC, Perhaps it was Ben Grower and wife or some such. 

One learns 3o much from 3uch programs, The lady 
was rippling along about military undertakings have 
profound trss influences on decorative trends. She 
opined that flop oleon 1 s operations produced the g reatest 
number of sych innovations which may or may not be true* 

To illustrate her point, she cited the case of the aperarance 
of the classic pillar, as a result of his campaigns 
in Greece", the lotus motive,,etc,, as a result of 


Memorandum 


How nice to discover a smart little package in 
today s post and to encounter the sealed ribbon and the 
dandy little message. 

Obviously, the old Royal is in need of a fresher 
ribbon and I'm rather expo ting someone capable 
of adjusting it during this week end, 

* V i' ^ / ,' ." V' . ' \ 

.48 for. the note, it ip grand knowing how things are 
turning but I pray you, a s always, not to let 
yourself be worried about the situation prefenting 
the transmission of sentiments as frequently as you would 
have them set forth, I understand perfectly 
how impossible things can be and the telepathy deprtment 
continues functioning just as clearly as ever, 

t, • “ . . *\ >M. 'V 1 ■' L 1 4 \ i. k ,;’i \ i. ■ . 

Wonderful to r elate, we had no rain today, not even 
a sprinkle, although some old thunder heads loomed 
high around noon, did considerable growling and then vanished 
without ever spilling a drop • 

But the. . growling of the thunder heads reminds me of 
Mike, the boxer, who did some barking this morning 
that made me laugh, I suppose he stands a little 
above my knee in height. He is almost the exact 
color of the good- earth and I nearly s tepped on 
him when first I went to the post office this morning, he 
being flattened out in a 3pot of s.un«hine, sifting through t he big 
oak by Celeste's cattle gap. On my second 
visit jto the store, I was carrying a 3ack full of empty coke 
bottles, and saurrying along at a pretty good clip when 
in another spot, hard by the pecane tree nearer the side gate, 

I trod on him so that i,t sent me sprawling and from 
his flattened position, he rose straight up in the air 
a bout three feet, howling madly, and then dashed over to lick 
my face while I gatL&nad .up stray bottles. It must have 


dn Greece 
■Greece, 
is tening, 
distressed 













b«« I*uq oos* b«*> \joa a iwjw i.*m>3qc V K> 

<aAS \\o a*o e bLuoo *■ Utnu 83ul?>8r>3i\4 \|<S t«ot o «• 
'JAkee** bc*\ 8*\jbiu& .fr:i9^Jtia»too xuaiWel 

" x © 9(5 ot Aoc«i- 1 «»fclu»4» eid *«*t\ bsbaoqeU* 


y««r 


From Che FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS> #M~5889 In the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


10062 


£0001 


10063 


Sunday, Auguet 30th, 1959, 


presented a ridiculous sight and 1 know not which 
'of us was the more surprised • 

There seems to he vast doings in the cabins and dance 
halls tonight and what with the air being balmy and 
the cotton sacks laid away for the week end, everything ought 
to b e hitting quite a high pictch . The honkey-tonk up the 
road and the one across the riper are both throwing 
swing-outs and perhaps the biggest wake of the 
season is in progress down by the spillway where the 
youth, shot twice accidently last Saturday night, 
is being waked, tonoght, the body having been brought 
from San Antonio or rather Houston this evening • 

The boy's brother-in-law, Carlton Brown, accompanied the body 
and reached her along about first dark, dropping by to 
see me shortly afterward to compare note e on how the world had 
turned since his last go-round, perhaps a month ortoo ago • 

f spent most of my afternoon gathering g ourds and 
was mildly provoked when some flatchitoches lady, 
being entertained by Shreveport people somewhere here 
on the river, had the nerve to barge in with 8 biddies who 
obviously had nothing but time on their hands and nothing 
in their heads to make, a Melrose tour 

comprehensible . I g«ve them a vague sort of tour but brushed 
them off with a degree of thoroughness, too, giving them 
final slap by congratulating them on all the, money they 
?xad svaed by having avoided purchasing a Pilgrimage 
ticket that would be good for a week end six weeks off • 

I a told by the clerk that Pere Antoine has returned to 
the local church, following his visit to Poland this summer , 

I was quite delighted a.nd withal surprised when the house servant 

across the fence came to see me this morning, bearing a fine 

walking stick which she said Father Anthony had brought to 

me vesterday when he paid a visit on the ladies, --it 

must have been on Wednesday, and that he had left the 

stick for me as a souvenir of "the old country • I 

thought it very swept of the good priest who scarcely knows me ana 

drop him a note tonight 




tooV. ubu V. .a*\ 8 i 5 \jaiVir aiiiVfc 

7 . ... __• _ * . . ^ .i i ,. MI 


Ora 'phever Saturday uerning, eayipg phewa* isot^ r\ 
yiny te take her offspring U eoheel en Monday morning 

' { 9 £3J* m u refresh her 

•SSttfSlKs** ?*; aWlMljf Pi t9ri*S99 *9d hape^ileek at Ghana . 
i *a* Settled bpt eenpletely. 

Home* radio thbp te m atout z a c repair • their number^ being £540, I 
quite eurprieinglffrt a lS>|fr $>3|fe f # Mb *5f§, and I 
recognteed the votee ae thht ef Rth Piemen , Bethe 
half oieter and frequent companion, i mao glad of the 


although 


•i 305 ol 




IF*Lies r i W grtmugm. a 

ZJ UtilZlSBlZZ qJffPIfar?*• Mjmttbgmfa 

and althsu§h B sth^hda asked her te receive at tfeaufert, ehe 

had deeided ehe we te.reeeige ft the Lemee RSuee etnee 

ehe had always dene'that . I teli her I theught it in¬ 


ch e had always dene' 


Juet after neem, Bel 

rsFSrcv, 

...••bnuoT o$ 8iiWr *tc\ 8friup $ 


Mat. I teld her I theught it tm- 
iMfH^ss receive a-^ tke eame plaoe every 

imW off*!«*»••■» Hh 

nerrom onw ».Jt to *ra**,tlm» 

T09\I 8tt«t O «8 8'wUO iO ^iUUD8l 

wWiSirti a/*.™..., 

Juet after neem, Behby Beblteux telephened te say he and 

s EssSe?;? '£$£****'* 

*•*>*•* rnfidilgjadge 

sor TC^Kob o tu«S s. ..8 «1 

i I Loo 8to\»iS oiein \o 6ob b bno ti ot 


Debit eua r 

» * 





From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS, #f1~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


kmioi 


10064 


r>ao<u 


10065 


Monday, August 31st, 1939 • 


. e :l jittOE freiiyufe. , oi.L'c. 



oa »«ra # 

Assort 4-it pome 

■y Mm t » 


While they were sittl here, Randy Jack 
appeared with a bey friend and twe girl friends and 1 sent 
•n a tear by themselves until 1 oeuld shahs sff the 
Deblieux contingent, Randy's bey friend had eeMpt^ng 
suspended frem his sheuldsr I tesh te be a 
mumm. -Tasked him if he had had any in getting 

aturet^nd eve ‘ 
ra at dll but 
equips themselves these da 


them 


ef ye side plantation, I believe Randy leaves, for 


s when tafiWg yeuhg “ ' 


ladies *n a tour 


• Pi 

Prinoetow shortly, 

1 • cm uobno\L fl* ioo»H;^ it 


ojv ’'.o; 


I' suppoSo the r, danting continues tnthe. s 


oiU 3 

«r“ 


03" 


> llarkeville, With 
, alone with /•*'-H 

to learn from him that his entire 


tk the ladies Vit 
, bitt'^ll oyd v oht was 


ini 


3P 

Wr# 



0 


t 0-b6 


B<«k and V tk* 4tk- '*'r 3th *r wh 


on 

ad 


fysffl, 


/enxaxu. 


eh 


\_te spend the 


*30 


3^3 t 4'iO'V '-j® io 90t969*' 

soitjs sz "Great Rrittain -0*k 


-r.i fri oj 








the >Labfr:-J>ai-meet'*** tYWM*-* z ‘ v ' u 

\o ball .«oi«:.qroo b«f> *'»** 1 J V°* 

fc .Qf all - the thtnykI A heurfr rtWIf! 9o9gfrk\pg:l the 

JauBtqtei*ur,pe''the^ne a -tb**<t9preihed me the Wet was Ik* 
placard earrted tn-tbe^orowd W tkf;dt? pg££\feadiugi 

bwaii+uh oI)U bsbiosb bob 

BVjDCJlL 004 3 <*3 

<x rTr c\ a^t ^ vT («•*.’ >5 *\ O'* 

o .ex maetoay,ho»ovor, i '•*** psprSgsSdWheu 

- UatM * u ^ ’•“I'* 

i«l* and f fc*»* hhsband were # 
leaving at onoe *n a tkr«« *r /#ur year honeymoon,' I 

suppose ther hav been longer ones but.* do»<t resell 
anvoffhand, oiqo^a, \c ^u: . ebsf in won w n y* 

xnr.iids MWoa t nteu 

I Mteldn't rtUtMW^Oe&ie and MsetHke i&**^ b . 


Eisenhower 


following last *#ntb’*- 
announced that hit daughter an 

tbr«« *r 




nd 


stumble over C. 


,2** torrifv,*, 

34" s\4"io »4 to'. 


find ***Zd fi«r 
<*»d 'informative, 

» ZWay *nF»«r»*at def end to, 

tm the same category but a dalftf tosh tender Teef stands hard bye and 
to it and a dab of »i«f* before ealling it quits for this go r*vnd # *«»J 



Memorandums t i;\" t « < .•& .-i ':>uja.o sj.m v.■: *i\ itsa^ 

nalrfro4rlu«I ^r.i4ra3e9Tq J’oh yA »' baiaiuq .^8iL vaTi'v 

. 4»*tk«r lovely eususer's d a y with fust the right : 1 
in .speed of the lb reeve to eliminate at oh rtf? the warmer-‘aspects* of 
•\tho August funeral pyre*? Last night '• dark *l*kd moved on without 
droppingutng^ratn and so every mother is sen and daughter 
K toi\stmsUadi%e the Cotton \patoh.early amdirehatnodzlatoo'* 1 '* '* f,aw 
t 'rr ow *o it baeu t ani\ bo.\ o^o: *»*' 

, r. . It was\uiae heaving from ^obina and, through her, of 

•u . 9 Carrie, One thing appears % eertaim, little «i*« >9oTnen+dteon't 

appear to be lenelyo'If visiters indioate^anything, •' 

baaifu^. «i staoob.oto'i eiA vonie tuo'ft t;. 

. aiJ «■ mandkclny if you were as nuvaled as 1 thatttn 
the matternsf the taxi, Robina didp t do the ealling on her own 
hook so that the hot jaunt oould be-eliminated and everybody eould 
get to oe?viao> regardless, * ija*'- "1-1* % r ' '■ » t> ' " 1 . 

a,' ; Jr \i 8vj9(tA TOUda aao— % OciiS ta rtt"to\ taB bow noitotiunl 
x - Ora patted Ithis way about 6t3(hand I found her looking so 
muoh ltke c arolyn, she seemed:to be almost her double in appearance. 
She naturally Sloughed when 1 told h4t that Ruth-Pierson had turned 
Pit;a«r both down am receiving.sAtiRednfsrty'i ^ laughed? too, *hen 4ratold me 
j that Ruth's mister,, that te to say, Seth s ether half etettr, , 

Henry R, A ihad >alst tsfd :Reth she has receiving in town dnd waan t 
dreaming of getting tanglod up at Jtoamfortt c ome to thiUk ef it, 
Henry deed eedm oddiftet-a lady'* ndms, dsesn't it, 

sAt ob eo n tiq aiii as 4ro« bat 4 o' ojt»«a eo 
Ae flrm mas stopping at th* lady -Roster's on her»wdy homo, 1 sent 
some gourde.to- the latter, having alroad$ ytoon Ota *#»*r s he 
•aid tk* ladyvdemtev..* little.tdsughterg. perhppe-3, pldye &ite 
80 33 a let with Anm'e ^children. Shs other dap when Retire* *ireley was 
. iiieh Ann & children, the ocMary bttd pot out of ite cage and 
somehow in thss*neuimg acxeltetoent, Jieair*t-*le/8 it With t ** 

3 o.\ .. i i-'\ top. hamner+ x dn-<Learntng ef thio, itke lady doetor wot - only 
8hocked, -notiSHly hooauso-of \thp death of ths bird but aide 
ev ; because iho.n daughter should have boon the slayer, &h* envisioned 
vast tpeychelogioal implicatiome and queAttened her daughter ’at 
length regairdlmp dhe patter, o ,,o -.d^ ortt— toi f -\4k *■■■■* 

80 QJ aiT**U .n toit w ot sieft^Qae uoioao* bfbneit M bit au 
"Rut dMit'h yom Mka thejpeer Itttle bird#, the ifiww 
lady doctor proceed her tiny daughter, . U . u ' .'-o .b 

"Tes^ mpMed -<tho; child, wtfi *A* «0 

the pretty little bird alright itui-yw e4o, my 
friondeljuMhF^of mss-Q bluowak ot QiiiiiiTT^sd aottoo rttit 

tud tail sAt iitita bitod o bnal ot U©4 no *uo 4-oi 3d auodwoo oM 

\ilati£ 1 W* aaw»»«* *lw»*ytno2 * ®antad it* ak»r* it 

aritk someone who would appreciate it. 







ion Papers, 5889 in the Southern Historical Collection 
,a Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


10066 


10067 




Iheeday, September let, 1959 


benight uy favorite Celumbta etatien, WWL, Sew rleane, 
at firet diecp pointed me by net preeenting Invitatien te 
Learningffi Q but * wae pleased te'hear a Lenden broadcast 
\*ej! *ieonhower jloiugs\in place* There were direct qt etatiene 
tooiVii/rn the TV duet betweehztksftooidentandithe'PriheMinister 
and sene interacting cii tar he by Be be rt Trouti ' The latter 
mentioned chatting introduced F, D, &• en hit /tret fire aide chat, 
remarking that tt wae he, Trent, whe had ftret need the ward, 
firaetde* in intreditelmg the President ion thie hieterte eooaeien, 
s' lt nay kave ,been peer r^aeptien, a lthengh it seemed.good enengh, er 
it may have .been myzimagtnation er It even may lhave ^been 
a fact that Ur* Trent eince hie beradoaete in England 
ef late, eeeme te hav* softened the second the werd, 

^braadecetAmde c* *B#t ehyyiA fennd<-it K very pleasant* i . or-: 
bluno vjbodyj'ts'jo *■ »■'oiliw 1 is t>d .vluoo i'flu£ v, -toA cAt ioAi ■ 

T wae delighted, following theiLenden program, that 
Invitatien wae eet ferth at 8t50, —ene never knows if the 
-.zPregxm&U 1 appear at allinnd swkethe.ri should tt appear, if 
) 0 «c, ^it Will lie prceented Mt. 8 vdr 8 150* ^Walter t 0ehem^ ^>**1 
bftina iMC-*d\te,r, Dr, Erysen, TkcCehen voice ie excellent but he>A: 

»Ioii Pbeieuely lac\o the Eryeeu teMtJbl jin keeping the can versa tten flawing 
cmeethly. Seme English lady: wae ene ef the panel ?*nd eurprieed 
t ‘u PC hrin aye verse < K *f uthe Tract eituat tarn by chewing eigne ef tt * 

American influence' in\pt least ene ward when :ehe. \o animow . 
preneuoed "capitalist" ^with the accent en the i Peep** > - 
ae Americana de, and net en the "ptt m ae de the 
> a * . Engitap* , z 3hev wAn* dice weeing ^Jfewe .from Be there# by 
-j William Merrie.h j enjeyed the discussion but feltc ~ 

^ they vtook Ur, Morrie q little te seriously in speaking hi. . 

Pf thie Mt. Pf whimeu which* *>m uet >o*nfette>, c At,ruck me- tw placee ae 
being about ae futile qe try ing i ts determine which zfiret mode 
it hew in ltfec ■•^the e.lichen.cr-the. egg*-nl^xim.'-t «i 
glad r Wiam> Morris invented the Uerrie ■ choir >\for J have no doubt it hoe 
afforded many people much comfort —• •* eceaAieu, —iut 
)?1 ,theHerrie implication that, everything aae reeey in the middle agee 
; eeepc diedaining foot* abeut wd ieval timed end the hint tv\ 
that in Upepia, —the land ef Ee.Wherey ne &epemmsnt As .,nui 
we uld be needed eemehew enggeete te me that r, Merjrie wae 
merely theerjptmg ‘ond.sneek taking oenofrdto neide in i ” 
te censideratten, .taid^uob \jitii - t»i\ sessT' Toioi t 

Oil the heme front,anothen cowboy or two- JeiAed 
theee already tuaeatAoningh iM iftfepi foil -dm- town 41 \jv4--vu. uAt 
With cetten beginning te roll, it weuld eeem CoTtheugh 
the eewbeye might be let eut en b a tl te lend a hand with the lint but 
i-i * thus far, ne sign ef much doings, frern whero T wii, xLppeare likely 

.ii oio'f09 ic.cj >.tuow oAci iBoaitfla A- 


*#* SCtthe, bridges coerce and talliee 
y.I. incerpranted eeme general iteae 
***• *0 M need in oneeti on with each 
* *i j e* appeee jl ■ shell zbO supplyi mg 

aSw artjeenk hos been completed, I am 
» Colice beak hoe 

'• ,*m ,eeiMh*pp%iWp*s v, 0 

I biso G«oI oe 4i..u bi-.A 
{» interior eh ate 

m •& */**»,* Ofu tpat I. might get 


•JO” 53 08 


icayune'e let of Ooteber 
10 0 ,98t-U0 0 \« % lL<Ae I 
s aw qu bujjA 1 

t /fop Urn opr# and ¥arkeville 
:ep§Fv*be eeffee eupe this 
$P r &i*t 2 . tine*.. Sbe feumd. X 
rP8Wd\d*€ing;mye tenure , bf 
hpufd^pd ip-appreeiatten,^ the 
,,u«. •i an 

■^Vm k gpd^ f sfPUz HP offnl+lookod 

•£4 h * Miked ua if abb might have 
tM § b%*>*•&&** bVffet.s She mightii M 
o so yllo'jiiiaus yort ,b*ruc.Q a At sisl 


Ac\Aw in 


laet 

me m i, 
kir d. 


1 *i :o<So a -\ 

t ooi 

oiLsiabnio imj 



From the FRANCOIS Hl6N0N PAPERS* #W~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


10068 


73001 


.seeI t 4ai ,\jft 


I talked wit) in William§ Britt* 11 thi 9 
of tern **». I dan t remember if I mentiened ahe if 
new Secretary 9/ the ham her 9/ emmerca* : She 
reperted that every day eeveral\ tMeUnefma t* the 
effiee, queting Ceamepellrtan and WwnfhrWrn* 


telephana Melreea far an appeintment far them. She 
wye explain* thdre Pan an e rref in tk* article. a 
x that Melreee tn but 0 n*an<f$f' 8 j^« 


At 


s 1 ^ oi 0 ei may* explain* j mart Pan an e rrer }p thghrticle r and 

jlt yiau oeaym ena 1 * impreenea aaax 99 many trthX pVppi* 
rarameuyhaving adeemed, a* the kae in tMC-*VZ 
pan*,* thatmere, MMk' than* men read Ceanefelttau, 

An fer myeelf * I ha^n t theught a beutthd* peint ter I 
jo. naetotn/ene 1 hadn t heard 9 / the naga*in*JU 8Q year* 
si and hadeuppeead U*bdd*pue' f *ht w&'k b pllier*, 
it. lei theeetmy V» ? 




i 9 d 


eta, 


4u6 


rummy- 

zzA »Ab t rcot 
3*39U CJ8\ 0 minatuffp 


’•e,* . v 

n»a 4 asaqqun 

fhn.bhe 

t o b?> « /•■ nen-deeeriptzgeurdb' 



tnnmiab 

l l'n 




M 


Sedge* t juet ieeeewhat, tfadytht^. 
Perhape it will ineptre him te plant'd 
ef geurde next year • Whether it deee 
iftU v ma sSMtuMr fl*9*edz9f : ’ih*-'u1nibiit \ 
iz Ale*andria *0 Shrevepbr* whe v «r» n " 
lloob -ftkd' geurd weed*, eeavturning me 
qiUjCllaljMi oame inte tPeir em in thi* 

sa I 




BTC 


»*»• 

red aeree 

jtSrnm 

|Ir geurde 

ill *S n 

„ ... ^ M . 00* #»ot 

delight* mama end Winee J= tara f* <1 t# be • nur<« 

au»®/«**/*«**• delight t* ajlthe\autteurfitedi($* .ef.thie 
edd fruit in the yeat* dhead.-It-fte&dt+ftgethe geurd* 
h a d te wait 99 1 eng and I think barren nhamM feel 

•tadoioQ \c 4&I e WiUMOOtT a Jr to\"9TTb 

I ikiZ, ef eeurae, centime planting thfm^bkt' 

I have already made up mm mind te r **9»e & ether plant whieh 
>hv* ta* lamp remained inhered, dted a iM*rnilfully 
pnehed intethe b a ekgreund a* a tfcbphd pA%}u!JSS» in the 
fleWerwerld and I ehal 1 be quite enchant*? ft I. can get it 
\PaeP:*a~ er up U tktsyrapmphvel “ k> 

• rfekljr deaervea, Whai"T : hevt iu -jhii 
^eeeteeemb er eel**bn% »*>. HUFfjtel! 

^ htheuphyiweue^h'aPth? *deh it in *rl 
*>jothe.\gpelltng bun- f - ribhen yen knei 
•hall feature it* in th* a hand gai ' 


10063 


0’70'*l 


Ttdmitdmy, 3, r uubtr Sni, 19B9. 


ett 

ir.a 

c 

an ef 


.Memurandl mga tbur e»s uci ■ oicn difv.. b*v— «-• 

md-b'kc iillifttoO &ei- t r.bmtw stf 4^ r>«iW: 

Udiootft k#» J o» t# kfti»o/oii»4 the*d*ndy eftetle 

T.tnmm <■ m with ihiiAllMllll 


9«0 

•taca 
A 



i*Si 


0*\ 


u J»y o*0B*e 
<*• ♦••< 


Kk# tft« geurd, may eventually emerge a* a aneiiver einderella*** 


frem Lyme in teday** peet, tegether with the**lippin§h 
oenoeming Bdgar JStern, the geeture tn behalf ef Arenbeurg 
1 and the deltght^ef lth* pieture* the faoile^merd* pertrayed, 

lUeKao &i uw\tn #\iod «odfti;i«nu ndt \* *bind el-'' •** 

taA-e I <m delighted with, the whel*% hle*9*d % a**frtment ef 
; S a;. item*’ k ,*aoh iu.it* ew*.way **tbl*hrly netting ferth nfhat 

uk4 A» o«> thg hearttneeer fail* t*$mdnt*%idamills dean eur mental 

\jlin* si frolW 88^.004ido? 1 - '“«’ r 

uno «j4o4eaVinj^ rieiio 13 . a** «i \e ***'* ' ;v i ' 

' tiiti.8. 

it m*yzb*'>d*pl 9 y*dz Same unexpected twist* ef the paet menth breught 
abeut * eeupleef ntretqhe* ef aridity but by * me*t fertunate 
t- turn ef eir*um*i*n*e*t *ueh a* Id Stdrm$*eemtmy te have fergetten 
« my birthday sntti then, thing* getvb-ek en the ^Sk'itary neatly 
lu a*d.thu*Ji/eil able te ralan and alien myeelf time te think freugh . 
ivin „ V wbatastbiuk the apirit efiAr*nb*nrg t mtght re-oet te meat f*v*r a l 

m>A4 nai\4o 6T»?4 .t ifidfit *u**c 

I ** muoh enjeyed yeur a ooeunt *f year jungle garden • i»o» 
wenderfully ene with imaginatien can oenjure up the viaten ef 
v\* whale f ree* eut ef the preaenna-ef a atpgle green atalk, 

. j; ^l«ftftftft*^toi«J»»<ft*o»itk 4 .iit*^ftf alemg the windew 

- «<2I and theexpanae ef it that the tmcg tmatien ean make, 
on*r 3 Hioink b«ut\ I t a«iKt 6 « eiri* s^uo 98\yo %M 4 : 

at biadv r(nr«t«AUftct'jR/ tt*oitm*i»» peeuiliar at it* ineeptien, 

** vtelent iMitta intenaitu ofteritdidbreak, tgte ne quit* 
a turn • f«v Ldtd^netpaewarkvjuaf inhere yen were whea t* 

4 - 5 . i-p-ii --.ryi %tn*nk>JmA A\mi*ep^g^padi^’'nade^^A udmd^mPde^^d 

«i *n*rl m*ntt>ea*drk* T e?.did net blew am* dny glaee in the beudetr 
04 on oq*U4IW»Bd Imm qut>t*r*^ 0 »kil« 

r«;4 tithing* clattered and .banged .is4t»« timing reen** V L *>* 
i'.siioc 9^4 Uo b»4i8iu qiir.soon os ecd «o* ® * 5 2^ **^21*1^ 

.Uliw .•«»» nbunM}*** thinks*/*t, let mezr*«*e*d** WtwrjttSttten 
regarding the 'reium* netatten en ike 1945 letter • It 
.'.oa^d n®448ti bori I 4ud 4ued. naiJoAo c4 8 Ttr: *'ou» o'd 
qobct U 04 dilw q«i4tD.‘o 90 oa i< 99 d sort 41 .Stou o 4 4aq bim 


tti 






From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPE RS, #M~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 



10071 


10070 


Thursday, Stptt*b§r 3rd, 1939 


it, —tha 1943 "raturn" natatian wao nadt by Mio o Camillata 
whim it had boon writtan, Mi 99 Camilla having apparantly a §nt 
ei ittU hiT dough ar in: California to road andaaking hor ti 

raturn At to har*\Carmon, on finding iti, pasted it along to m§ 
i«ir dfrku tadfrai&ofr t freco. e T \n>bofr*«i awyd. ixoiX 

fttuodKsniv \c \j.s >had Hi a-nifreaft 9At .1 nafr'v. ncvjb %nUn • oitoc 
• bavnitt.0 Zuaaskod.abo.ut ihorolationshipbotWaanCarman and 

tho Br$a*9ala brida of the unningham bay • Carman in a oauatn 
\a to Baynond, fathar f/i tha I rido» It- is; intorauting that 
i 1 Carman o nathor^wat' Jowtsh and that MaynshdAa wi/a wot part Jawi9h 
Lbntf .thara was M .ktnobtg*botmoon tha Habrom strains, '' One thing 
qbaut Hatahttooheo that to truly remark a bln\i a-tha/aat that 
I navar did haar af any ana tn tha Pariah uantfootuttn any 
is, f oonooiouonao$af raoialigrouho, t oo far aa^Jnw'Kdpd Cantila 
Mu-.* enter Antovraotal-nattara ♦&<• J hava ooon^pooplaotmply* 

ofjsrious, and undarttondablyaa fit With porformanoesof 9 ana ana 
(.boi ov'W. like Hyman Gahan but tn dl tha anrainay navar was there avar 
\jlvV ■ 1 ; ^ any hint at to rmotalcmattorsi % It would nbav.so "refreshing if 
Aql j\ir vn . fr I osold say.as mnah tniregmtd^totoharityybPt laaat, if not 
**u&\ fra of ofr eommon sonso,us regards. at no of tho oldsters and oant af tha rabid 
yaungar ganarattana about raotal nattoro athar than 
wok .ntfMardio and. 8omttap frnuaoa tuey rtoun oe I 

\o isoieiu ahfr tv- viiiUits hoo «tifro«.„ rci hfritu bn 0 vjiiuViaLhotis 
t ^i.iifrC h& tAlphsnaa.Matoyerjdiadloot might a b»ut'9, They ora 
ciafcb;* waking ibim.- fHtylSkflndtha will ba burial tomorrow naming, 

• «oo uokfr&Ki £>i«tk ehfr frohfr tri \a aanDqxaahfr bn« Hi® 

At tho aaffoa oupo thto morning, J found Para Antotna who 
K i\9it<:ha&sbnonght madfina walking 0 tie k frtm Polands L lhara woo 
afr i u 1 aft* tmnph that tor fi ha iandt* ogpt little ohanaa to tdlk^ t* 
muahS'. Ha dt d ask a a .mo tspo intqatta -strongly i'- • «*iufr t 
». tha .paoplo in Poland Anew well enough thair prof or ana a batwoan Soot 
M few niobuod andWoAtt and 41 mm hoptng against \hopemtbay>nay ana day 

sUiit s’ a tempo U thio aountry if. tha Iron rwntrnm ian t auar going to 
bo lifted and the Xomtot threat ralaxada^Thte i a intart a ting 
to haar from a nan who hot 90 rooantly visited all tha major Polish 
no aititaand spent wombs in the ^oouhtryoidd With friends and family • 
frl .nafrfrai 8 b 61 anfr «o «oifrofro« oAt s>u'ib r \t>v.b'\ 

80 muoh nora to ohattar about but I had battar broak 
off and got to work • It hao boon 00 nioo ohatting with you today 


rant af thoxPutinbbn* ltwnly\ratwo -lttno hora- 
but tamp- dtom Anobuakota.Mpstha rawdv^it to ."-^'fr 
totltr nom\ot 9ibut all tviu Ohon haa bttn ouoh o otatio, 
Zithg rndiOaprogramnowora unkoarablo* ' ^ '0 f 

.»loi!0K9 ai'iifr a<5 ZZ's'ii frn.\fr t noera 3 adfr ni na/oA' 

Ino day 0 poot brought tha Sinnono portraits 
x $AnU\99d. frow-thi-loryors,inot,tS got ny first inproaoton of thair 
'aaiofrv. bsi gantygl layouv^iaPor o oandid oamo'va shoti^thay tiruok 
ahfr ad bin*'o§Apaana9tads af attributas that ■ nlkoW obygos*'* 

, a patad-x/ar^portraitknow savaral paoplo mw 
afriTocgiU handtUghtadzWith thom, ouoh ao ktso Xhta,»la 
»d 8fanny v Janaa and\omonv.and^iabloomyou$f b¥utbit*^^ 
^;,aHginnlat.daao^thai owooution and all and ChotonnAt 

■jhig glanayiaa will a trot-wo Hzfor tha mho t^htad-bUo inooo 
and for tha^Ptaayuno f Ha for Ohiah I waa ooJttd ana 0 ana ti no 
haakmMaM i aay thank0 again on myiiw*baholf*dbd 
thooa who wtll ba raaatvtng tha00, thank9, 

I havt naad to oay thirty billion ttuao for all tho 
itoifraubrtfru hapgtnao%jfloningr,my way from lymoo •'>»"»'« 

friidfr 8aia froain ' Uodn BQoeooai o 'ioo^oo’i ooii«.j ofr 

aa Xhora. didn't too on to bo&noh mail today although 
\« Q\b tha xlptit* from.3ay+rub gavo ashint aatowhat hao 
afriuy boi\ -shoan\a0akln9-.in -the movta ^making wOrld^* LtkO '• ^ ^ i jU 
3 asJ<\ a»\fr iVfriw a bmloayuokOtaatms puaalad'-that thO *ig1tioljk '~—- 
i bm ztizO.honldi-kamaMdnad to Baton 8ougo0*' i I i 9hall«not i ^ 

-•t aq - a*o**r ha r igmary on that awara but lat tho Bog i stars 
Hamo’yft^ttaeo It\ftnwld~appour .to-'Mi■'that'almost* 

2 any splaar would boilikoly rbOnappoal'-'to-Idg^atC 1 ** 
ouppata thn pronimity to tbb, «o 311 i» l .franoa ^V. • Ob \o 
raid JtofiiotXO jomotmoMo, it oantatally appaaltny to bhth 'lay 
1 and fando* Lulnmaa: dmaan't sawn ta liko to trowol «*. 
blah 1 .and A ay\ji*n + particularly intaraatad^tn anything, it 


ad ofr 8ort yi^stia aha 






From che FRANCOIS HlGNON PAPERS, fM-3889 In che Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


TAiOi'l 


10072 


,Cd£i t bn£ eiudl 

•u warn •• kind an te inquirn abaut the pannikin nan4 
far i nun Cannapalitan tear ah tote. I nhauld 
^ think abant ftpa aught ta bn Junt /inn, in view a/ 
tha aenanianal nun naming ta hand* Ihnm > iS 
in every anna in a whtln name uniuaginaabla demand 
far # *f>\4ht*-mrtt and whila attka moment I an 

tf5d*in$*4$*HUbl*afrt+*>m*tiwn*ir *h*WdemmMe%I /nnl 
par/aatip § *rtr withid bhfew gnu?a,-1 ehal lv bn- canting 
apaut /ar-. ngavonmarn and it willbe^prand ta kata 
then • pray, gnu, M Wft ua*e>Umy^rueh -* 

. 9 ii .in pas.mund up tha ary* fan, at* the nanant I have *JbVplc 
* and if the a ddipitnal enen da netoaun"la* hand until 

later in the a aanan, that will bn ting enaugh • 

8Kf.jrci<i adt frrtyuetd e Vjo^ an* 

-v. nTiefta4*»t»«&/«l2fri ta, gat.any tart of •** prbfrbmftinight, 
iou^lefciwSr Una juatwbara tha PraaidUt af the United Staten 
igztlntP^ng 1 4itighta Taatardey It wau^nutd-hb-wbUld be the 
gun at a/ thn rrenohzPraeident.ht hi aeoentryzpiaoo, 
hnAhateau de BanbauUlnt h a n nnually beon*thb-favorite 
Presidential.autMer place and ami nuppbne -it may bn 
there , athe aid Jhane ■ efithe Bne^dn 'Peuthtiot+H 'father- 
aet:ua<i-i«» af the Princeebf de •Lanballe, *1'uuppeee'the 
cr.it W nagnctnan^enpeeially ii/na milleane up+tth eueh 
partleulanctn pictariat /am- befern the euPrentfl 

uanth haa played K aut,; ed **' w 

,A* lit tqY sanK noilltd van nt b»a« A - 

It neened fittingothpt I oheuldguntetn the Introduetten 
te the Caliee Caak&aak a pannage abaut neat pien that 
i^had eppeered tn * l9K> inane oftkiftehtUehea 

Keen $ gaped* ly beaaune Cbanlea amh’hinpnper euaekn a/ 

M Cttisenn Cauneil pernnaeia* and the "article tflbbS had quite 

nay a bent the negre ceabC and*tbetrntteebae with the piece , 
Iff dt4tU.eti.mnt te.neutien a neck beak wen in the markn md I 
Lmtfad anather pereonU knew Isbad^emhedfhardde far per- 
niaatau teiMae theiUrtiole . t JLeeerdimglfy I called Carmen 
ta ank fer PharJdM number, telling het + : wea thinking 
af daing nanething an feed.and wanted'twetk*- let* 03 
' s-if \ might mu the s She wdvtebdnetdCell htn 

f, tngApjet ntntmtnmg funking >e*re hwmemldwH mind* I 

* i called f# bninupen end Cparlea dee at anather wire . I held 
ny wire and wanm * iwurprtmed when* tw npedhtng ef 
the article, he unmarked that he hdf dfmff UjkvtHt right be/are 
hin, Mt wan na ebvnene that Carmen hndhadte.getnjenrd 

j: * ay 


rvooj 


10073 


o* nncii'l not\ 5 r o baqc.ate 1 so te«l t W3 
«e ®oioo Hi" - » - M»oA b-vnwoi beat 

Vo ufruood sdir -laMO »<'-• ,om,o 

- i oroic eisoq ow* «a»o'*sid b»k»t*Mi-o«oo s?. '-4l 

"iL:o:;o3Q b» ode— »«oo^ ' 

;»uenA« b \\» ***• 3 ^ 


O.'S % \1» 

:\*uib ebirt 

Menaranduni nA 


oi- or. bs^» 

,ai j ad ado 


on te4rnsn ad8 d^rodilK 
4ud o4oo<. r /ar>d ~ be^aien* 

bid ana .n «J ^ V 

atone boo^ o bod bod 


. TTT^utL *'«•©« at* bttoloeb id<S »2 C " S . JgZ 

A iaabUt eunmer'e qj 

<* thepaighbarhaad left Un ,^ 
comparatively d'ry but the atrong funtn ef wind knocked 
gourde nilly and I npnnt tan much tine today . 
gwtberinp*<twwn tn btpl btukath and piping- nany of;, the i;." . 
a niafo oeePr batk. .:»«•. a natter if fact , Uy avCt* 
nieed bath tub laekad ntriktng enaugh <» bid 
be/are I. had placed the gourde eh the gallery te dry^far: it 
heaped up ta aver flawing with all niben , nhapen and 
aalarn that oanntttuted the largent *arrangement I ever 
attenntedh nedw oicin- o ■ euoluno ^Itclooiatr^ Si * 

* ... o f t.*5» « 

s' invaluabU blue ^ jay t telephoned* ne^thi§l-' 

aftevnoom.-jtaeaagzabeebedi'jilatihbdoi •ail frah Shrevgpbtt, 

Ola naa unking her ta da n chart Hintary af ffatnhttneheb 
Pariah far none nagaeine whtoh Ola Mae publinhee • Carmen naid 

ay <mrt 9 


m*r 


Lu'jao no so 


the in getngeto ttvyomrtitng the thtnt z a» r the hern 
wanted tte knew if che ntght~ed-I^hejvt htdr'‘what l 
taken and te give'hevi'annUtdweeil-^he^naid 
would pay her whatever Carman theuih-pregir 9 '- : It eeent i. 
me sane man the backg'perhapn at OMTintnan * tine i Ola Mae‘ailed 
me abaut doing auoh a piece for her • I told her at 
. i tine I had knocked awe off fer the A1 exandria W t 
. ^.izdbhPld be glad to trying hand ft ahetbtrJ^ditiitf.J 
lv L»h* Mrgeto Pdrhape aha-preferred Odrmen with *ny *a 
•he dtdSbit think, i4ut t» view ef the bueinete wej 

eean te.beMngnged-imtt the-meitdWt^d* 

little ed(L tbatehynmheuld have •phoned Carmen nuleeirlM‘ 

4 ti te planning tent thing tn oennedtien with the Bed fee prejecte and 
w^H eanebedy hetivi en the lllehg Cantwe**'^£^™ 
zifmeerpemted^.ta bknock off a hietary r fi4 the Aerie hr ee thaf.r 
the naae of the auther way appear an a nanbor nf the * ' 

Beard nr nnnn nun h« I nhall bn gh d ta give 



<ad os bn.tv 
‘aaJjeoto^ tatony 







From the FRANCOIS HiGNON PAPERS, #M-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 



10075 


10074 


_ ju$t at I stepped tut from Tucta te 

h$ad toward the big heuee for eupper, a thrill veitt funded 
half way aerate the garden . It me Stater, bearing a 
eahe • She exelatued ever the beauty of the 
butterfly liliet eeneentrated between twe petit aleng the 

2 *** *»™ n* 9 i?WM+he deelared, that were 
the Matt gdrgeeut thingt the had ever teen • She taid 
the wanted a beuquet far her room, —eke it eeoupying 
her nether't ream , and t thed eff the ntne beautiful tprayt • 

8ke 5**1*! *•**»* be fere tupper herself, the 
have a Seeteh but urged ue te hide the drink 
if J. £. came in and the hid the battle . She had abvteuely 
had had a good snort but declared the vatu' t drinking . J. s. 

lh*t VZ* k *>?•**• M wheraii didn't - 

thaw bhoaute ef the ruffle en the tlip cover. The - 

t*™* V&Z&Sr *****•*■& Staying * 

1 *** sliFjftfiMbdw i$ao- is art* *u<X \j*tb - 

, . a«i* tfoiiw ao* *«a«t I eS/vua^- 

JSflBt**!** familgwouM arrivedemerrew 

{V l h * gw Jw •^9Mt9HWeuldAbahwi^fewwm»m i 
Jj* **&£*?* y*zlP*** * l*t tktir&aihitTt rid* with Z 

eeup. wipQ, me p$$9bt Lie Atta §alaol\ h*>uo ct c::. aus 
nuit - tr-aoii&Yia? fraatnti art* ba*u*J**u«o *c«-.a analoc 

particularly anxieut te knew when Imst t-had 
teen June, Dan t wife aand taid the wanted te tee her en 


Sunday, Septebner 6th, 1 959* 


~srtoltoMraftdtMjc ad \$*a: ii.ii 6* oart sci^ eo frrtv..- • ' a- a-- 

•tytirt* art* \o *huq ieti \jWe rt\ art* 

Such a pleatant week-end, weatherwite, that far, with 
c »• rain yen, Saturday and only w'd^b this evening q uite late • 

Gt K- , TOvSKOd t *JUnb \Iurt \}ii'.Q 8ytB s“. • 81.0 3- : J t xi.S<C>*-^ 

»: :X «at altogether .entranced -te die oever %t hip-it-tee-hep 
rabbit en a> tgrd.in Saturday ’ 9 .post, augmenting that there 
weuldjibn n:- 9 +tn 9 jf*rth from Lyme in the direetien ef the 
land ef ,£ip.va* Winkle far a breath -ef freak air • T Phalli 
be teanwiout: te hear hew it all turned «#trt and 'I held the 
theught.d’k'may have been al teg ether pleasant. 

— t e*cc> vjddo*— t *::o b**o®d *ta At OhAt fci'.r ano *BTi\ b«x> 

t i ; After.> Friday?a\fand a nge, Saturday teemed oenparatively 
quint m- Jhere jea& seven a plan that t verge we theuld §e heme 
ai o ' .about, 4 and that wot pleatant* 0 -The bird hundret a - ' 

» i.ao;r. e bagged B1dovat which eeemed te delight nearly -but'*M 
■ ,d: :..i »•* t everyene and & thought that quite a good haul for - 

acts, o i a bird murder, what with the gtatelam making it tlldgal 
,'racrl#- bafg K nona\than tleven* * esoio^ «• **'* 

TitiiiiiJ t *nx>b a*U iti cuiJi is snau i h«o bio&ai'- walboU 

-hi % i; »«r but eeuehom 4 e'altek eame and went and then tapper 
. came and went and them 9 . ample, tf* the Viet to re 
departed but Sitter andvher elder ten remained. Mini til 
nerning.they explained* Shin wan newt of interact dvrett the 
ftntk ntuae dinner. would be prepared' far but 4' tntttad ofb. But 
at dinner time they were still here and decided te dine 
bc<i . aerott the fence regardlttt end then they thought they might 
1 eauearovnd. ft* e Perhaps they didy' but one never knows if 
they merely.went vailing and mWl turn up later* 

-hoc I •aqo'l iT.ar-»-u\ \o \jit u,an » inudo 

.aiccaq 0* the pane frent, I. get eeme work dene yesterday and 
a little deem today although the- frequent family oalla 
„ oa«. V9I »ft govtwrdtdfisand neighbere dropping in May ’■ 0 m •-^ 
tv:. ••**■ dewm wert Vonaidorablg&.\v, iA^utAt 1 'ro/w ><--,Whot 1 
naAw noiecoot «o bsiamnw lie aviort a'fc , ta a«l o>i%po 
i*roq aha tut At I^wae vaetly dioireeeed thia a fternoon,* after 11 
«c a kneokingzeff a column under etna nueh title a* 

: uA . iti Booke joooe. tof.be Bead, ! .diwootered that half tocip atS 
threuffc nufi.rtbbh% hm failed to roveree* 

I am eendtny in thw arddoiWV net knowing>4f thort hW 


fut^slti but I aetumed thes,might be 

1 trotfe o ob cir hart ^«iieo aor. oIO 

ua f j att. eIO rthirty MiiaooLS arc8 1 o\ v 

Mt.ad^at Patzhsbeuae, batingbrought 
*M h#* JhtKashia hahyjtauld meet noode !i 'I 
id^regaicdloes tf Mhatker the * weeks eld 
weUgakom ears tf stm that depar nont. au 
^mother wasmt *at\, and deter thed her at 
£ 1 *iart nc\ aoaiq n rtaue ^nieb duodo mi 
ftiffiHflJM* ■«* mpgh tehlkabemh Whdt bhe would 
! lake guide eeooio 


«n awful 


IfT'rali 

fcSfiSW.fsm' 

art* \a n , bcf.Kai« o e© loaqc 

ind tt begins iabtr Day 
grater premise tf peats at Lyme, 







Francois Mignon Papers, #11-5889 


in the Southern Historical Collection 


From the ___ 

University of North Carolina Library 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: I 


Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


10077 


10076 


Monday, September 7th, 1959 


6cv:l t Jc) 'tMi6sic l a 


Memorandum^ l V> ■ •*« e oM : rs ^ . 

■i bno ~o<Sol \.o Uwb o ai floiAuinuiq no yjt. "tort - 

. .v ,1 perfectly 8 uwuer 's day ,abt ni *> ' q 

♦ ,v,.vj»«a ansaa a • 

Like all the ether national holidaye, Labord Day 
aeons ts function in a slightly different fraction in thi» 

Mas in places across the nation. ..o 

/•r all 1 Jmsw, Labor Day nag mail b§ a data observed 
6 npet heartily in urban centers and generally disregarded 
in rural sections,..Mlumt /«r ttt# ib«cmn«« •/ 

a national kel\day penetrates, \ have Mwr been qi its aura, 
Inthiaa ram, it ia a subject far tee a implex far me ta 
discover any general ever all. pattern,^ One plead where 
Labor Day ia iuoda manifest id ta the nan-delivery a/ nail, 

I in t«ao the banka are oleaed and-'* 

, probably hath Federal and State off iaee* Surprisingly 
eneugh,however, all the poheele eeen to have epened 
, today wkioh deean t aeen te> go along with the State'e 
holiday and ette heare ae aweh about Staten righto theae 
, day« and .*fc« schools, they olein, era araaturaa .* 

•/ the 5tat# rather then the federal Government, Ohio nerntng 
before tL noticed eeheel buses aenveytng ooado of 
children ta ae keel far the .opening of the .o tUr ; o 
outunnol sense t re. b^naeanf however, the - 
ohildren ware, all heme again*, hoot week the white eoheelo 
epened on Wednesday, £ believe and then oleaed - 
pranptly at naan, rand ning eleaed fer the balance ef 
. the week and. peaaibly until Tuesday te enable those 
teachers who acre to, and few of thew.^aeew ta oare, ta 
-..attend a moating of State, oohafel teaohera «* s.m 
a convention held aonewhere, -*Baten Douge, ttew 
Orleans or sene auoh place, 
a . 'tauo ait-fr oir a$tfcutt qad sto Bituioi^-siaq b*'» 

..And oo# although starting before the cole 
lfar.ntng.iaertnt.mly Mean t progressed any hat i 
.. up Kith the, adored schools where pupils were 


M iet t aeunarifr-sc.: ,fcna A a aw snoecalq o «o«u 

a*i; Another interruption was the appear ohcoof ihat soeundrel, 
Mitchell, the axe• Ho wa« only half drunk, however, and ae 
qcj'-a-j Lmode the ■me.stcf. hU unpleasant greened by matting 
at *.vhtlbide do a jab thflt eh mild no be puteff* no 

^i\ stjwo. ioetyrhursday* then hoys had hdgn gwtpg thte iuou 
i.LLs>A&hg heAot . td-got^thein, earn thread hot today they went 
attt in.a»«n faster, far thers woe sane fried chicken in aA 
the plaoe, of the.(.bread, She top of the beet closed < 
and first one and then the ether backed out, —tabby oats, — 
and they never guessed wl\atihdd happened and jumped up 
sictori •* *If la# *l play at the gdne some-, mere', ^ declare "• 

th* btAi*./«. notanerpheKtng a tom into a tiabby is even better 
than an anesthetic, and the patient* .think, the. thole business a 
frplitne thing I shall never hpvo but which'would, if available, 

Li. provide. »« entertainment, would be • ■tapp reoerding of a conversa¬ 
tion on the gallery across the fence tonight after sapper. 

Madam Regard and I were sitting in the dark, talking 
t a Kentucky igenemlly andwonf of hen preninent men, i»- 
aluding President \ folk *>L4olssta'who Was fiddling around 
i in .the giving room, joined ns\t*md wo understood - r qab 
o \\i aao*^#r she. ip^eotog . to. .read w>aiasL biogr* hy^o-f^ 

• o\o President p,i\0*,Smoked along for.a.few minutes •»« 

<gvbjpe&*ndJimtpgham.Madam Regard wniJr ^a««tb 
Vi\t. jj »»% SMsntuailyjAO surprioodh jm It to lemrm>that she and I had 
\\ A *g&.grefioa4igkg> on*thpb theory tbat'-firesidbaHr PiMr- »*:. 
who reap: it turned out that Celeste-had been, talking— 
about a new biography of the present Pope, I must eon- 
bj.i fgos &bnd been, somewhat pupalo&ttkdl shwi of a11 people, 

Should suddenly take up\a study. Of president Polk of ■ 

ell Mtpl« but* having^leng been eemd itiened for the'.unexpected, 

I aoaept what I thought ehe.yud said wtthbvt anything but 
oapualneee. We have all marveled on occasion when 
oonveregttjon enn.go. Siang anerosmpdrpoooo without the partieipan 
realising it but this ms one con9*rba*ieU\fyshould like te 
be ate # *9 plsy back *s see J*et hew tkezpivcon fitted in. And 
'Sp+A foid this memo, io\bO' jtin$d t in ternerro» 1 e^Labor Day 
rgpgrt for \uep4nyjp; na$lt pg •» 4^ ni cnibnac rr 


icooi anJ 


schools 

V oateh 
|stored 


today* and this will, be because immediately of to 
registerings, the aplened pyptle were told they * 
might have a -two. .week bsltday to pick cotton* • 
when Leber,Hay to a helidau 9 ^ knew net, andwhtn 
pain# fo th rounding up all tho^jHfpils one day* 


then turning 

, aeons te 





From Che Francois HiGNON Papers* M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


/VOI'l. 


oeooi 


10079 


10078 




And as all day, the sounds of Industry issued from 
the gin en this 1959 Labor Day and the snowy rows of 
bursting eotton bells have been peopled with 
dusky figures, the more expert ones working on each 
stalk in-a fashion reminding me of'a great 
artist pluoking on the strings of a harp& In short. 

Labor Day •» the plantation is a day of labor and when 
plaoed tn the .imagination along side the Jtfth Avenue parade, 
the oontrast seems striktng enough, 
sitfl /u ' iloA Io«ojr$o« is.vo aili lie siid 

ziAss «i roi.l&.-Shp boys continue to frolte en the gallery, unmindful 
of.what had happened to them yesterday when they went into 
:.c'j-thd boot, ni both of then did Jump wreaked this 
; r v naming while they wars .meeting Just yifter breakfast when 

# big eld ripening jpurd, suspended fro* the gallery eeiling just 
afri above their heads f suddenly let gs 9 swathing and 
t ar.i spattering all oner them and the gallery with-a - 
an 1 bang that, seemed to lift tkam straight-op iate t he 
• li^v \b air, pawing, the atth like-a swimming i net raster 

on dry land might idemsketrate to -a pupil deem it 4 1 
ViM underwater e treks of arms and legs ^should he made, 

ZuMut within a few minutes, when I hadItrought out « 
i,' basket of hot soap nudes to oleum *up atA* -place, the 
aaa.'.i boys Mere baok again 9 nosing around im dn obvious ' 

effort to figure K out what in the world had happened, 

"uir.’iow .ixtajunaucii I-naba’"- adfr «o*li tai'.iot aiaiu a« s .£ \o 

\o e.oaA oall from.Qua.. suggested she wight get down 
agatn on Wednesday morning to btinyue some hand woven 
mats for t he, shelf in kand*and .to supply transportation 
eico iS'jz for a director ozf.thaifert Jessup museum «anbliito 
who wants to consul t me about gourds I am gtwtng to 
\o iths. museum ts held the horns made swap* and other ' 

usmnly commodities -far tihtoh the gourdd in ths old days were 
ui % re constantly in use as repositories for all sorts of 

things sin the days.dtitmeen ssfrigenatare and rat proof oupboards 
had been* fashioned*-- t ataAQ!o«c* >LzA itoiiHauHoo - 

,so .b\ Aoua aiooii to an.al/tC 

,v The politicians are beginning to take over meet of the loeal 
t ;ii >r±*aaim ways for the ir. drum beat ing between mow and Dee ember 
*51'2a huts although pushed fartherbaok than usual, 
i b>nai M did finally, discover Invitation \ tie\ LeamUty, Un¬ 
fortunately, however, 4- had begum nedding evprthe pelitieal 
, elnptrap se 1 eng that., following the first senstation 

v sf, delight, in dieoevering my favorite program* - 
a I reounod py nodding and, new that it ts JH st concluded, 
dims* Mail* sannpt fer. the life$>ef me., rooall what book was 

oi sroac < hsing dieousoed srsohat. was said about igfof&hsugh 


Tuesday, Ssptsnbsr 8th, 1959, 


si. I- Hi I-amao ai-o»H <hoA ar e-eaiaitw 4 i 

j anuino^abta louivt e *tia»tt euait 4ao»\a*w \ji iminMaa 

• _ - * V A ** rv , .• ^ . I • * r■ 


jjRimufr nail 
oi anaac 


t na«j 


Memorandum o mobo®* - a*t<| \P»« 

1 •,acsaV- • o 1 - -8 •» • -o Mi ;«u .si- n»« aAi \0 a— ;.' _• 

»; Lovely showers toward o vening, fellowihg levely ••J®?**®* 
a nd bis.eld white mrblm thunder heads from sunrise until 4*30• 

t *rtbl*4« b« a\iw t «an » \$4 ba*i<M** wa« 

.ii C v. It sesms tous I. did .quits a 1st ef fiddlthgwi theut getting 
anywhere jn particular « 

.. tnoA ba* 5 iBpi.4 I 'aortas \n »b«»4**.\ baiaioa \i* o* 

I eaw the ladiee aerees the fence for a few minutes but 
our sitting was comparatively brief because Celeste 
mas spending the: day at the ouutry Club and tits fidgity 
dbout getting inte the big read « She eaid hdr: eyes- are eenetiues 
slew t§ feeue and a eked me what 1 theught the reaeen 
night f told her Iztiouldn’t h a vs *be_vagvss* 

notion but uerwoe^uiskt borne possibility 4 &uti X had 

a good night's sloop* shs^sonntored, hopin^fer an argument, 

I opined that im all porvs eases I had known, i*had taken 
more than one nighte's: sleep to correct the tremble and - _ 
ehe appeared te. with , ehe hadn t breught up tbe*matten end 
I, ferny part, was glad tesla* ttii4repV**V m *\ 1U ' Ao * " i[ 
^luXataooua ba rd bain* - « *«»»«! 

went by the house 1 this aftemew, eetenbibly te 
delivery a, geurd arretigemeut but aotued ly tew 

Uadan Regard was waking out and £ was glad*** discover at 
she wee. relishing the quiet that was hers in the house by 
rlwriMljfi .:toi*•=.«**'ae«* A «aiio^-a4 «»»' ** 

jbawiciota 

Car*## 'phone at 8 to ash if oho might piok up 
eons Hunter picture: she had asked mo to- havot painted for her, 
and while oho was hero botwotih' 4«46 amd 5i23 v ^ ■'■her- sister, who 
lived for some years in Marksville or Manoura a number 
of ysarssgo wham Madam egard didf passed by 1 e.au 
next door to ohat with the latter and I was glad 
for both ladioe^s^oz t noo««'taiV w balioo cMa* 1 '- 

ki>M *tarli'u>\ ait ioy bu su- 8*' - “v.o . 

Ora eailed at f t*night to oay tho\fort Jeoeup 
number, whom she had offorwdsto drive^'doom ■ her on Wednesday, had 
,a a* engagement for. Wednvodaythud I • buggeettidz-fridg^ * u ; { 


eti engagement for. fodneoday dud l ouggoeted?Triiey J 
morning ae being ogualjyt oenvenieutofon metand Tetidwir- 
was agreed upen*. .. .xs!an sioo^c ytapMon-e won .mo o<; 




From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #11-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


evool 


10080 


S8or»r 


10081 


.iidvli Tadwefro,®'- 


It always interests me hew winy peeple cene and go in thin 
little cammuntty with tut news •/ their arrival or departure patting 
through very promptly, Today madam Bayard asked Mot if I knaw 
the yana af tha now member in »ur nidtt and I confessed I 
j i\ didn t know Melrose ked^ any nan aitisans. It eeewethe kauaa 
,0o: next.rtethegarage whom Mr* Carters used to* livedo,. i ' b«© 
now inh a bitad by a man, wifa and children, and 
1 thay have been living.there Minna tha cowboy a want to jail* 

Ha ia anid to ba guardian af tha plantation stock, and., 
aoaarding to *y oolorad frianda of whom I inquired i bout thia, 
tv knows li ttle.obout\,the business*", n z** ... an4 woe \ 

eJBblb') BBUDOitd \&i -A ijieui $ UT*AV >0 8OBI T.'.O 

I a i j1 & don’t. know tha nano eft tha now family but own 
non* x mimmmi, ifogactiy wtmmgkd- • - ■ 0*1 t * " '■«* i 9 *uo '.: 

mosobt tddr A o©d<u 9 j« bsia c D'd booo\ »•- wolf. 

And npoadtugins oattla reminds no of artificial 
insemination which, ini im general dp raetioe. in Louisiana and 
that ■ remindeo'ge\ wf a. upa^ of an old Hnglieh adage *i> v oot j. 
that turned* upinm vaguelgram otory reaching me ^.iao 
via Bad Ctioon, Ik*Story rune like thin uv, :>iio i:**\t ev 
A pair of newly madn daoidad thay wanted on hair bat had z 
na luok tn be-gettfn§\ one until e physician, suggested \ % \ 
artificial inaantnation which wan triad and proved auooannful, 
although .the baby pan a mighty puny looking thing* than 
tha grandfather oann to oao kis non'a -offnpring, hgmwciy ■ 
revolted hy, the child's unnaauly appearanoe and anted if 
it wan really hie grandchild* Assured 1 that it was ,&hn wan told 
it had bean bo-gotten by artificial insemination, whereupon 
grandpa exclaimed t 

ade \,i 'Abo ofr u £© onodV itam©^ 

o o\ have always been, toldr^tSpare sr oe 

aiV t^e. red and spoil the child 'fowl ad bT&;V bi -i olidw . ..© 

T 8 dwi.il o oTUeitoU to nl bto&u b to\ bauii 

I guana I hud better^ pans )that one along to Janoa* \.o 
bolt 8001 I b«o TaJrioi o*tt dfries 3 ©do c 3 Toob 4 r* 0 « 

A«2 m called me thin afternoon, sayingyshe andA tc\ 

John were Just back but we got no farther than 
that when: as euwt. oft Wind- must haveknacked dofon a otG 
bod % telephone pele^\ cutting, the wiro^ .f shall be hearing alli\ 

about thgir,-freetfnon their Illinois farm shortly^I suppose, 
a rent , that inoluded counting. threugh.Hew Jerk State,* Herkimer, Him 
and no on. How strangely people relax,***mH<cob bB*Tt ; as 


ftdfr Hi oUlUTW U9M © bd tit BW99B 8T8i\' 
LiiBSTTO BHOBTSC fr&Tl\ 9*^ \0 !>H0 .BBSlUBUd £ttil»8$» 

8aoiW»a I lows o bo»'. odiu Hoaii« eoui 

.Tsui'n at.'JiA MO ^Wednesdayo Heptempor’Bth, 1999* 

0* i-*:*iM9Ul!03 fXSU y* b«U«\ OB bn© ollfruo 898i©T 90 

bi.o oiuAcoq eii\ o'ini slil'oo oscTioU 9ci^s'.9 

,&9Ji‘T8 0Tt\ di’od W0T\ \9»d ll»B 


t *\Bi-0a \o iSntB ^onyr.M Home \jl".i©\ o si 90 b 
^i.Monorngdumiwsv, \o *«*w4*u a© »biw u »m iu«. b©»\ boh . s'.© 

T©9\J D 9H0 liiios 8b JTl©3JV\,ib OMiv)r..\ aw 9ft. . *T©bt »*'* 

. 8 A:. parfeet sunmer!n day and a^perfeot delugo^ ° 
beginning at 8 and still going great- guns new at 9,^ 
a ,iu CbttoUi Will^net be picked on* the morrow but if ahyome 
wants te^ffSJ boating up and dew n rowb^ that 

L v;<i iWill',bo^al£egc*bnr\potnihlo,'*iiw »tA Ail © *ro\ 'ta^eie 
a»U YluBfflid oirnu iooi tio\. bn© ,\\o 9*oTd itoeoii Ssu'* 

I o an 1 * recall if it wan ytntvrdey or today that Celeste 
reported Beth had invited her, J, H 0 0 jkj ut to attend 
her Boayfort rionptibnofer tho^Heard\,uemberc bo\. , 

0 S Friday, night,..October 9th, lAh~ylwi ^buv : u: iti 
Celeste declined ,both f orbs reel fand no, e xplet ntng 
ot .thctownLalweyhikad^onough to da up tbotke Must™ 

momenti.at hong banevWithout.attending^a-party cs 
#a tho>ovent0ftbo>'dotngs,i8urely it wCC^^ t 1 ' * * 1 ooi® 
not thin*but vatbor- the fast thottOko end Beth aren't 
t*\ hitting it off ton-well at*the moment^that impelled^ 

. ii, her tore spends in the negative* si' guess the tnotLt'l 
invitation wasinnued verbally at the Country Club or 
Mi ••MjiMki; Hken Beth mentioned her proponed 
party to pc asbouple of weeks baok+ deviating 
that nobodye.nn.\tke Boardvhad asg-netton an to hew i n 
house ink bold be presented on astour sad that nht proponed 
i'i; to Hi ow,ever gone by the party on the 9th of oete be Pi i J ' 

I wan onungraotoun ts to sop inn that tf wns education 
che was^attempting.by .netting ah example IB hours ^ 1 
before the.^opening*of the teurv she onrtainlywesn-4* 
giving thohe-nhe*woul4*eduento .whok opportunity 
to meni^thetr Ways ^bef ore the .parade get tnddP way 
Anyone. would be faelteK t§ .attempt trying to ftgumt out 
how her mind tnwotking botobvteuoly hor primary 
intention >tC ote throw euoh *aK wxqnteito party ae »# ni 
.stui flejor.eyo,rybedy a ttsndimg ga 4 try * to }tmpreee eCoPyehd 
oAt -s^.witb^thOLifaet .that ^cVfnrt omtMShihoe all th# - 

other hawmeooiHhat'xaycdllyjktll'iWf^hwP^te'the iutb'-bg 
realixettep gfca*. that majority sef ttke Bilgrime ipet hbre 
.. .aatnrtatnmont out ief examining^ African Houee at e i 
leg cabin thather euperb carpeting nad fine fleunose* 


»v t d v .d 


bftBCOC^ 

oir 


,iiju u:.iu 


at inoluded peoeting threugh. Hew Jerk State 
i. Hew etrangely people relax,***+*<oou beaT 


eupp 

Her 


erltiner, Hlnira, 













From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M-5889 In the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


ttfOOl 


10082 


I 


10083 


i-aoi'i 


uo as>xa' 


There «««u t# be a new wrinkle in the eattle 
stealing business, one ef the /tret persons arrested 
was Jee Wilson who has a small traet, perhaps 
fe»rty K ssrees, adjoining Melrose on Little River • 
se raises cattle and so found it very eenveniSnt to 
entioe Melrose eattle into his pasture and 
sell beef from both properties, 

Jee is a fairly •■ail negro, sort ef 50 -ish, 
and has had quite a wide assortment ef wive# down through 
the years. Be was having difficulties with sue a year 
sr •* am- primarily because thk mtfo was- Jsalcue, 
it.jo said, ef another lady living with oonebsdy in+the 
neighborhood, Be.one day this latter ladyyskst Jee s wife 
andikilled her,, Jee then, took unto hinetIf. Ida Red s 
sister for a little while, but afters bo-getting another baby, 
that liaoon broke off. and Jee took unto himself the 
lady what had banged .gist wifettgidiath^ t s o 
bitafrfre ot «ik Siiio t'toA but -ibewtot *7 

Jee wee , the: first oowboy, to-, bo* hauled- te'vjatl ” *' 
in August for stealthy oattle, Hb io x now eut 
on ,bend and i$: picking,cotton* But yesterday the Law passed 
this wayv.and picked up. hie wife for having seld*oattle to 
somebody, inidovon* and thus the . hue band^ oUt-on bend 
awaiting trail, it airborne,.while hit^wHfofcseveral-'* 
ninths in pregnancy , is sitting tn-jails tTho^^ 
whple i business seems somehow to have‘h typical unexpected 
Melrose twisti.and she can but wondonhow*-the next act will play out, 
•to dul- ujrfrmio' 5 aAi iro vjllodtau bnvssitow ‘tfbitctivtti 

Iks limes Picayune scouts a possible gourd story in 
the impending ^business as being initiated by o* M tir.- 
thg Popartnonti.of Agriculture • > It is^psseibls^u 
, 9SC $k#* I did or did not onolooo tho?.Qopav*mbit&4Aetto+ 
initiating the business during,tkevpastanontk,^ I haven t 
JUJ bad anyone to help me ta waodio at suck blotter &- 
fren my a tuff jbvt probably shall bave tueb assistance 
skbntly^ Jn tbs mam tine, l mention the ^possibility 
that the let tar mayobav tgsms 'to Lymey—ttio 
signed by Clauds Morn, as l recall, and muethave o - ' 
zvaomf t o .hand during August, o If .it did As -forward 
’and if you can find it Convenient to return *tt, aT 
shjil bo appreciati.ee* Jf u itM4 motsreioh yon .or,if * 
itAs no* convenient ts set hamd UHt,ht the^present time, 
just play I Aids$ti*ay sa*ything 9 > If pretty dell remember the 
general sovesatorand Cay use -it fer a Pioaywse 
article, butif li t Jsasn.ot-jtt-xpOtxbec* fUsdpoXtc^i i-t>t 
it nidht broaden-the article a littlo -by quotatisna 4•• • • 

*p,»oituolX »ni\ bc« £<tm.'ncO dtaqua taifto-tt ^oI 


Thursday, SeptenMhr 10th, 1959, 


V 


Memora 


ndfmi 


&o 


c. i , Last .night'o rain .Measured almost an inch and a half 
Jmi irt idtdn? t r aim J5 or d mile^s up the rendu- Today has 
all.... a > remained, meetly cloddy but it sprinkled-over se\cliyhtly 
\o aJi but pnes,*. The thermometer is supposed to oag-ta 68 
i before morning, the lowest for the season* , a 

* 1 L 0 i\ viiiVt lauO 90* 

It surprised me net at all today when the artist 
At a ^.‘.-telephoned me. thie noon ts cay she. had a couple of pretty 


uitb 

a;tt»92 *1 
iuoa ttw 

4rcuW 


pictures, she would like, to shorn me 0 Mho brought them 
over, to the fence .where <£ glanced at them a nd maid I 
would buy. Mad I. realised-hem hilarious one of them wae, 

I should have insisted she: take double what she a sked for 
A have t already, had spans*','tf- laughter over one ef them • 
kept painted one is a wedding, quite shaming and 
Painted cnASerf ugutcd cardboard, and I shall shellac both 
oideo and prebablyget ny money out ef it •■ the morrow, 

,The ether., is u JT1 igh into Egypt which set me inte 
galee sf merripsnt tonight, when.1 get a round to look at it, 
tronendousi herald angels, pure Aunt Jemimme ■ 
wit. \ fOTi Oise with etrearning h^ok. hoi r, 'but elad. in the 
oonvfitpsnal angel nightgowns, dominate the sky, 

I .i-i oi At an impsseible ri yht angle t the golden trumpet ef 

•eokt absolutely vertisle «r*. blowing bluet, calculated 
to Wake the. deed*, and the, only apparent objects they 
have te.\ eeund off at are a diwinwmative little ferign Mary, 
in bigs, astride-a white f orse* the Babe perched em the 
saddle in. front of the. Holy: Usthoryvthp mule 2 ei 
v boihg, led up « elope by centring, earr ied by Joseph, I 
0 oppose, and one oeanot bs,quits.sure if Joseph to leading 
,t. . i. ; . . mule or dragging it* A half grown ebony cherub, alee 

with, an pstonishtng, check cf wind swept hair, -wihge its way 
to, the left ef the travelero^ while dome, in east 2 
lower comer appear unnioctuksgblo. goeetore, huge white 
birde o-f gosoo+like bodioo^ operiing,comb* and wattles 
Of erinsepbLz t9J\o « t s_9ti iiuc &u\ • 00 vrtoo 


e-i 


s«\s v 
><to 


e«: 


4rit: 


of 

e 


a.'O' 

aia'y 

;0 si 


It wo 


J .vjlii.itoat9'i *oit aaatti&iJd 

ai it 0 * s Jvot whg the herald, anggls should *•> blowing ouch a 

i i Hast et c ihe -b amis 00 : U<ttle Virgin and shildta t b 
. 4 i vo snlvr they artist hay know, but* I euspeot . oho-*;- a&ob 

never did knew end would never think it worth while 
t etabi. -oq -Jo to interpret that tempo si ti.oweulortunatoly i 

sv. i ^ it-^iS'.Paintsd on a: regulation canvas heard that, obviously 
o.sest its person whoibought, it twioe ae wish as l-paid 
4 - fori the, mole thing, I sou probably sell ft at the drop ef 
baAooi.A aujjA fr'ttbiuoile 0 Aoua *ort4 aid; -i'\ar a*t BA'aaa 


itW*. 








From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library', Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 






10084 


,$561 iMOt'tfl aW- t uob8nmVl 

a. trump*If but instead, 1 think * shall *givs it to myself as 
a a birthday present* pleedng it Usher* IKWan tee j* 

en arising and enf elding up, fer ttte se waeky it pulls 
r j.8 •. smile* every tiwm. I glance in tte direetten, in spite ef 
the /oat that I have been laughing, eut leudever it fer 
the past half heur • 

. art* fi*M \i»bo* Uo tfi io« » _ 

«*- 0 - TO *,i Fer the first tine iu'rt knew met hen lengi the clerk 
- and I supped alene-tonight* I knew net where meet ef 
the peepls were hut J . B . was said te be in Alexandria 
a..*. .«,n»t tenOtMfp Jt* enaktlabhuatnsss down .that way. It «(tu 


ioY bsia 


^ UBIIUVWU — ———- — W - 

bull bearing the* estate, brand has been lecated dewn that way. 


What 


V u 
oa 
\4ow 


Sold to a»*«vue thsre/by Jes Wileen a wife, tehees name, 

, I believe I neglected to nehtten yesterday*' is Lilly U*e . 

.,* 0 o 0 at unlikel name fer « gigantte M dy earn metier* 

.osomera ho *i \o *u« «***« \J« *Htt"J***’*3 **! * 

-I %• encloourM, although of- ne great* menent, 

, , Ac or* interesting eneughj 1 must say I seme- ss* 

times wenderifLay Is ever going te he sap able ef 
"staying put" very Ihng, ne natter* where she- may find 
herself • I» «*•» efltheWh&wip^nttk* Bluffy 
'* wandering if ahe x Weuldn?t he well advised te let it 
reek pleng fer a while without paying* ****•? £ 
visit* during the eevree ef a season,*-^ I-'dm glad that ehe 
V ha vine a taste ef the Uahiers family whisk is perhaps one 
s.\ nr. •/ tb* happiest unite sf its type*! ever knew One thing 
te certain, Bipe^Bah ie presiding herewith a-yiewpeint 
that would be beyend the imagiuatien ef Aunt: - illie and 
h.' S J eheuldn't be surprised if Zay get mere gshutwap . . .. 

_ off eotien freu'that quarter than she ha* ever experienced with 


ie 


z-si i. 

a# , tV 

bb! 


a iW-m 


her ewn family in my opinion, ef eevree, James 
sheuld aocenpany layeven though he might remain 
ne longer than a*we*kismd* rl have adviebdhim an thie 
me inch se many tiWen-in x the* pas*,* l* eletr- hV prefers te 
earry eut hie ewn idea*, and, after alHpWroally ie hie 
bueineee and net nine Peresnally, 1 deubt 
if he could evet de^wything at ae-little eeet te hie ewn 
discomfort that.weuld give eeuueh Joy te Kay and it 
deee eeen short-sighted ho doesn't* make the moot of it. 


altiSw iVJrnou Si Aninfr'nav jbk bluow bsio won* bib 9li ■ 

I feund e*-nanyuefs the larger geurder^SO 1 add SO pounders, 
Vila oi en the round thie neeaing, tem fPen their-vihee by last night s 
bl.vitin but uneraoked and unkurtohy thsirVall te ths 
J OOHL, 3 grsundi isms drepping as nueb. on 18 tS 'BQ fet*^ It 

sssns rsmarkabls that «uoh a fall •bouldn t havs knsoksd 




10085 


Hiv, .e t >i; u Friday, Ss'ptsnbsr 11th, 1969 • 

i:. «59»i louuufi ot ' i J-Yi uni «» Qitiuiaovt e>4 inotii 
»! . a j .‘uu an tin# #uca a^ailoo an# \o JHabaia - '- ; .u -,{rt ttt: ■■ >, 

ionoaTv>e v an ;,.t qh<' ntait-oa b©« itoitotiutt) lo»no\ an# $a&t tuonai o# 
t .5 au ,»3rA \o bi;. A '..n >Vi\p,uc»*.# b #•: ■ i : - •* i 

At hu sow 8& ,a#*^ u *nol ..a»- lAv.ucnn# qin# ein ^A'. 

a* v v najitu too 8 lw an# ne oinotnC) #no-- baeao o«i 

v. BsnerandUmp^ ; •' • 

\o bniO'l sifl/o Stc a\. an# \o an nabius *noi-o«a 

»*« aai 0 i perfectly levely autumnal day, blue and geld 

and oesl • IT^e thermemeter dipped inte the lewer 60'e 
loot night, struggled te get up inte the 70'e today and 
tpf-ll° slide dewn into the lower 50'a tonight, we are 
o'* told* and I oon believe -it, 

W V . . . 'i ...,'.# .-S-. 4 Si J 

o. n Mary Page gpeared fen eeffee thie meming and 

%theu cane cVer te have >d leek at geurde, M a ry Page 
i... i J*. representing the Tert Jeeewp museum‘in sene'* 

• *' a dVtVery capacity. She ie o very pleasant weman, 

' , * sort ef 60±i*h, I guess she must have quits * t «< 

a bit ef leisure, what with all the traveling, ehe deee 
> a bout the glebe • She was scheduled to start »en a globe - 

'encircling teur today but g a ve up the idea fdn-^- 
' a few months' until a bunion that had been bethering her, had 
ibeen set to ri-ghts • bno\ba. .• \t »a 

, . ;*tc> #tiA bani\ ij- ■ #uoA } o Aoue b>8Uoc o»Uu 

> -■ u &ra brought an apple pie which remained wisanpled 

in the ice box but which whill have a thoreugh getng over before 
■*t> » I fold Up my heard and call it a day, ora brought 
* me ’a hand woven basket, seme mats she had knitted and an 

• U no n t 2d fashioned tablecloth, all' for »bo»a t if I wanted them there 
Or any Other place • I was delighted with the ^ 
visit and with the girfte and the eppertunity te . 
earmark eeme geurde fer Fort Jeeeup • 

. ■ iL#8vJn noX 8ysodwoo aA# \o xoini aw toAt ti eoA 10 «» 

on# l^whs Mildly floored .by the request fer eeme mere gourde 
* from Ao JiWedg**, I nu«t say 1 hadn t sent him many 
^*^kind am glad he liked them butnat the same time I must 
•: a Y con f***s v a guely surprised whs n h tasked farmers which, 

» •n| neverthele^t 1 «» delighted te send, I think he ie 

bai 1 mistaken .9^ he thing*-I'm going*t* tffive a day^of my life 
an# te surveying*the Gardens-between new and Pilgrimage but 

. 1 perhapi I'i may be ablest* tuek that tn, tee• bcu; 

ni aalot ilo# ^tn<j4ja aAice ila# t a-S v>u'' »«•*' bn*.a. 

# Jlbl. 1 \j j bn 0 0O 0<‘.4; t\i o 10 BliQAOJ CiU acx.'f' 

• alytiie o A4*tt eio# la rV# a.# uoili-ue 





From Che Francois MiGNON Papers, M-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 

University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


* 


ciaooi 


10086 




; v, 


10087 


1 >U«' 


SV.: L? 




t 0 i * 01 




..o .:i % Jshn Eyssr 'pheped me about 8 tonight, saying X 

would bo reoeiuing an invitation to the annual reoeption, 
given by the Preiedent of the oollege but that he wanted me 
to know that the formal invitation had something more personal 
behind it and X thought that vary kind of him . He told 
me about his trip through a ew Terk State. He was muoh 
impressed that Fort Ontario on the Hiagra was not under the 
Hew York State Park Department but rather r unsxpestsdly 
autuoA. under the wing of the HewYerk State Board of 
Education. Thif strSMss .JMta* hping& ***? 9 00d idea but » 
t'l must say* somewhat novels i .looo fc;.:- 

uofeot a , Q t ? itv.i qu teo of beioqutie .. >i 

Eventually Tbelmareplaoed John pnthe Pflenp 
a nd talked for half an ho&r. She asked me ah«\t Ouole ism s 
cabin and I mentioned that Carmen and I had dined with 

the Evans ‘people* Whs* She an# John wore Jtpppeed to be 

present but jeers eut of,Pam* --J. thought Xasj^tbWMW 
hear a change i in hen voiae and far the. next Jive winces the 
gave the impression of being pussl^ed sr distracted *w something, 
Then, im.the midst efua sentence on *qw# mther subject, she 
a a suddenly switched fro*, what she ttae, paging te the Evans 
- Matter. , We both .laughed when she i confessed Sh*t she had been 
stunned by the news that Carmen and I had dined, with^ 
the Evanses, thinking, as she was at the nenten _sf the 
name, of Hr. Uedford Evans, formerly sf tke laellege, 
who oaused such a rumpus a bout being fired last Spring, 

I.still laua*;tf* my beard when I think what an odd kettle 
of fish that would have been, a picture, of .me nap opting 
a n invitation f dins mi th that bigot, Medfsrd toons, as 
lilt possible a picture to imagine as* say Chief Justice Warren 
accepting an invitation to Jin* With the Pevsrnor of Arkansas, 
There is, after aU^qiits a difference between the 
Sterling Bvam.ses and \ths. Mederd Evanses aw bi.u Jrieix 

,U869V frlO 1C' feb-U'-uq »W06 ittOTCS 

Burner has it that the trial of the cowboys for rustling 
cattle oomes up next .meek. My infsrmant, Aefh. the _ 

.rnsrohont+planter and Fug a beu, see ,te.thinktksy wi^l got 
J from 3 to 5 yearst lug^bou toll* me that Jibe oigarMLps 

I "Sent etc. the beys inzjail were sequestered *ku .the Mother 
of,one .sf the boyand necsr rsaohsd t^sbr destination• He 
i that is rugabeur, seemed astonished thai^.msrsly smiled 
on learning that news, saying X could * h0 

messenger cou\d.stand the gain ,* I didn t tail him that I had 
heard him, Tug a beu, tell seme mighty tall tales in fie 
past, made up of whole cloth and accordingly I didn t 
swallow the Camel tale with a single gulp, 




Sunday, September 13th, 19 59, 


r yjjx, nfted j «. c»\ »A» aitoe-e-i V» b^ue flymen a? 
la 9i yji'ua-. sqqa bsA uieAqen aeuaOftd eons aTOitai ni sAt aiot 
.bemutei esA osaAqftii is A «*V. •■eta\ia 1 LAeoi\ teA. 

Memorandum : 

'•.rasa s&'<* »bio S5 tufcuo toe&esu - **• - 

. IV %4. pretty day yesterday, but drear emeugh today, what with 
lew clouds sifting down an occasional sprinkle and a premise 
il of.Wre ef-tjie? seme^Stuff fer the morrow, 

Liv. .‘c »u6 arliV eeAoot*A©t©YL b«& e.e©bq» t&t tto aaoi 

. t= .At'Xitbie moiWing, Carolynt ’phoned from Hew Orleans • 




- had put*.ai.pes&seript ts a nsts^te Ola Mas the e*ks¥ day, 

.a saying that if she. should sssasr heaT;frwm ^dwslyn%cvhe might 


os ob 


ask her about the pictures, exterior, of Ghana, taken in 
D . June, promiSO fer. the interiors that, was made for 


a;: 

cl 


ft' 


bftT 


ft'- 1 


. 


a. i 


a 1 


ai.uJtfo:: 

b L;. ooi 


7TO ' oUEFt *w ,.w • 3 

August • take it the. message had been, transmitted*- 
isut iso ftia»\ 8a«q bluoos oa boc Aaaos *tft;*VS‘£>\ t®*' 

. - Well,' anyway*-,she s aidtsho was tsrrtbly busy, trying to 
put the,finishing touches, on the Hodgss and atohitoohes 
films and. just had**t bssniabls to get afsund. SSh*said 
shn did kavsuths", hana sxtsrisrs in color, howsvev, and 
thut ahewpuld dtoM-jthem in the mail f or Warren today'so that 
hf weuld have them on hie desk in the morning *eU»#»*ot 
suggested I telephone him on the morrow, asking 
UjheMHd *h* spier shots enough to find one for a front page 
. b ferAke Sunday im Petebsr qnd, if ss. she would bs 

Paeeing this may yext Sunday, and wouldziake the black and white 
shots /*$i$h% interior scenes. ftMavesms doubt Varrsn 
already has the front page for ttys first week in 0 o teber already 
i, i* pr,oduoH**»wJ<A*rtainlu den t fike letting 
everything slid* all summer.and then having to break sne s 
nest J»»d«r ,a <#ad lime by the skin Pf emeU tenth, 

1 ft*l« \0 faR IKftUlll 

.HOW *\oif ford*>Vk*r asms, she says there ie a oast family fsud going 
i swJWQthm.Bsdgsp tslan. A. J « in setting up P huge auo 
trust fund Js*..the gardens and ssme sf the ohildnsn have 
voiced their objections* Carolyn thinks -th* foundation 
ought As be .*J sufficient Magnitude teioever a MadDowcll 

ptr*JSct,*Jopm z j quppeee tl\ia rumpusPn the familg mtet be 
what .w*cippfprjied te in t.he lettsr frem A. J.fi*> 
enoJLpppd in my iastp. Jf X go, m mthat id ts spend tits'^ 
day with J&m* VS* may be quite imura 2 shall not oa e-t 
breathe a word about the MaoHowell thing unless he brings it up. 


o i 


.HU 


av 


Hieb bite ijeud 

.. 


ftilT 


reel 


'*■ « ° 
iQ : ei 


slitl 


i 




Francois Hignon Papers, M -5889 


in the Southern Historical Collection 


10089 


10088 


Msnday, September 14th, 1959 


8 03- UU9S *•« 0i b tte 

JT» 9U*but not rain eithsr although we 3 
arc threatened,c**th »*>ietnre./ei!ote»to fc * threnfhit ,<• 

\j«t 3o*i* bartBuaoBib I ns 

i 9 in srti aeuuo « • .fcUt » qu (jnUl«i ,'v4ub *e^ 

.J, talked with Warren thisaf ter neontn. Beeaid he 
bad received the Ghana transparencies tn eeler tout ^thought 
then unsuitable zfor a asvsn.sines they wers merely pretty and 
eentained ne human figures* I teld his three er /•urrraeene why 
I thought r seme body should dr something te rescue the small sut 
buildings \ef :the. eld plantations because they were disappearing 
fasten My-.psltikt mas that they neva parti and pasesl of the ante belluu 
plantation homoi*nd that while nobody aeuld miss ending seme virtue i 
saving the sumsions themselves,.it somehow had slipped 
people's minds that these small buildings, being ee much 
a requisite.:sf Jhs operations ef the big house, and that I thought 
something should he done to qicksn. interest in them before 
o they had vanished utterly* uMo asked me te put that 
r jin writing, and I shall do ee-and-peet. it ■'to him in tomorrow's 
out-going mail* uidiioatb \stbT9iis^ b« »»•!** so a.' 

S utioil 08 haijHC'ioai'j! boA wiibiiud %M 

i mJharo.we.re two page Jetterefrem Carolyn, written prior 
to her telephone, call yesterday and. a two page letter from 
James 0 Secretarial service- was peer today * I attempted the 
letted from faneaand b el ieve 1 \get. meet of> it but let the 
other things go» gather James has. been over to Bayou Grossetote 
again an<t;hiked iA again*.that\ he bad Men to the university 
- Li brevity and liked it and that he and Kay had Been * 
somewhere with Z* <S. Willard* . I suppose. a 

j.\.J shall pe receiving a report from A, S. V* one ef these days when 
shei gets tank Jo- heme base* v. nsoiiV a. 1 - 4o>i si 

9 i\i r 9 j\ 4 fiaidltiifc 3 '- 4 uAu ^Hi. i-iUOi ftJlO 8l'4 4iiU'A ^HiHTOh 

On the home front. Celeste get rut hei{fine nes pettiooat 
to go with her oaliee eestume, expressing the greatest 
delight that the had at last found for only SO dollars 
a heep skirt that weu^jsaks her dress set out properly* 

I was .impressed by th*d*ametsr K of thehoops which appared te 
be about. Si* fee*, task'd her if there was enough material 
tn the dregs-of her costume to covert, the .hooped petticoat oon- 
venientfy* She gasped and said she hadn't thought about that* 

This,moirntngi_aifceffee, she explained she had tried to get 
her gpetyme ever-the pottiesat but. found, the width '•»/<■ 

, the latUri toe great and wae.ssnding.it baok to some shop or ether 


4 , 4U!04ftU 


;wo nc c bi'o alAi'.i'Ui.e ioiioiao&oo «a «wob $ni4Ve bIeoa.o wol 

She said*-i**and this wee no outpetot, -•that' she will 
lose money on the Bodges and ffatohiteohee films but they will 
,auboiof eVcfc quality thativii wtli* hr Worth while, k I take 

thiszte moan that booauos ef tlieir' excellence J they may serve as a 
: reoftmendatienifer eontraot* for^Otherzfllnb for ether people* 

«i naAo4 ,t \o t *toina4xs ,88’uidoiq a- - juoou ta»' ttp 
tv. &: umShowosid ehe and Ola Mae went to Grahd*Ihle f or Labor Day* S 
they de get areundl $he said that ehe Milt he *• •*» about 
her father next week end and ee would pass here on Sunday, as 
vuioho vae leaving tlew Orleans this aiming/# rtb ewe where and had 
c. be baok again',at they beginning ef next^whek* ' ''I get tired 
lJust listening U her aobount*ef her-bdlehdhr* Dew A 1 I have 
it* deists getimyeolftinto'aframe^ef-mindthat hill' take 
i- q t a. disappointment in getting-next week e pictures when her 
sohedule.takes her teisets- ether pdrt-sf the oeuntry^ 
t «iAsa 4 w«vto» ai'j ho »i*\ a«odc ai»- r I .is-saa 

in on*'. 4. tI thought the^enapsnet^ a ^ gift k 0f littliMlsi* Lee , 

would delight x MiosBatet dS the enolesurs indicates it did • The 
vi.c other one 1 court is from Mrs, Jmokse n, ststtr- ef‘ the 

late Maty Dagget Lakes She get-semo^gourdS-insttad of a liktnose* 
a Hi Mew i 8Ti \ af4 *i«\ a^uc, 4 isot\ 84\a eu4\ 

Aoeerd ing to my radi o ,the Ruse tone »*eeh °a track a t 
s' ®4 the.,msen and hit it*. \ Well 9 ^if they to ill -jdttktep right 
Oh sheeting in that dtrsotien, that Will be"fiUi* Add 
mention of the hueetone roninds me ef the Guineas and I 
» find myself SO ip untied las.to why they spend ee muoh money taking 


4oa I^a*! 


' ever ^fiMt, apparently erf aountry .Of we economis er strategie 
, value* and why they seem determined te get s squabble going 
,Wkth Indio i ohioh .also deesn t seem ■tO'Sdggest anything 
by way of profit ct# anybody? especially thod4eldesi T 
«d amifereaer b eing. astonished,' - : in fact* at the 'way fseple and nations 
alike are Jor.evor ttirwwtng away good will when nurturing it would 
seem terns, to be do much ^easier and mere profitable* There 
are ee many things E den -t seem to understand, ' ■. 

B^nind a*, Bininu , liwW obU a. 4 tue4 0 imw o 

Well, Lord, lot me get busy and start doing a 
little work, as a gainst the morrow******** 


for credit* Ufelt I had opine*.enough lust night 


*eab a 




1 From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


ew)pjt 


10090 


JifiOO J 


P» S. - I read the enclosure with difficulty. la 10091. 
it Sally or Setae Uaa who is getting diffieult. Putting 
the new State Library in the dark fer S weeks eeunde incredible. 
Surprised I haven t heard about it en radie.... 


N 


• QS I t TS'i 9 oV 4 * <- t: ° ' 


se did net peint eut that the flexible wiri oeuld se easily be 

out te wake any desiredwirele^'and have tht^gatage drop a dab 
ef selderen theplaos where the'ends of the new length would 
jein.Leng age I disoevered that any eueK^thiny at 
simple as, say , rolling up a rug, earn oause the greatest amount 
ef labor a fussing and unhappimoss, both to her and whatever 
;>u. unlueky \servant to lending a hand and al hading intenti en ef 
iso \>S!s pitying a AeopeMirt o* the sgarage beysg^f Jaifuami ^ 

isv.e U~; oAt lhero was seme kind of doings in Court today about 
uni .. ...the cowboys, One ef them root sentenoed to'five'years at 
iis, i »*«o s*\i Ajegolao Bit:name uoasmentidnOd hut 4Jt"*a9mo*ons-I knew. 
b«oB c. When the, ethers will have theirdayin^ourt and hod they 
'mill fare ,\ I knew mot. % asu s. »tin»4ifr an - *nnom o i 

Aouw ob git ltd t 8ys\ibliu<S liome a so AS is a Mr abmn a aLyoaq 
kA< ,iu•' i .r.i b i .I forgot t* tag tkat tn my oonvetsatiOW wtth >- 

a-\ os barren thi s aft erne on>j 1 .was surprised ^Ut <OneJ thing he said. I 
had written ikimabout Mhana .Ui'the spring?'-doeall ing te hie mind 
e* wo vs ut thatko and 1 had strolled over in that gOnefdl direction when 
he was here, and generally desertbing tHe dentition in 
te whioh the building had deteriorated after so many years of negleot 
Toivs i htsaf tern ten, in speaking of the plaCS, he ronindod 
«o-n mo~tkat he had inoludsd in*ko dolor reproduotUWs of 
ftni b*ltw* years ago one of‘they seat ions of WUralOin the 

sM Ghana house. Obviously he ha* oonfuded the dfrtoan Bouse 
Bfrsrattesnu Ghana anth-heg, in turn, weened Wuooled whew I told 

■j . £-s him he ceatldm^ possibly have iroprtsfootod the Ghana boiling since" 
it was-deaerated thts mummer and therofor*e did dsotmeist 
a oeuple of years back. 1 should have thought the 0B 
u«, <a & pictu os. Carolyn had yiveushtm ■•uid mdke it ob\Hous that 

Ghana is met the Afriean House for dhers :to no^toinly- 
nothing absut the one building that rftehblee the ether in 

Cri;co iit any detail# i«o jos nC 

'.K-i &isi i »wu3sco ooiiuo Tab Asms ay, oa 

B-, Ut®> wot 4isappeinted tonight that' lnvitatioh to 
, «learning wae> not.grooontod. Hbsy wero going te do- something, 
ek bo’sO •IthMiJL&'fme* whyt^'mint I SWft gkt mwt going «r } 
i x,r\e* be *intore Opting, It 'o wonderful hew eitok bran tori bod 
-isoo ii-o musio toavailableond-how little troneori<bo r dAalk. 
m ScAS *uodo *toortfr 4'i.boA sAs bUs bns bsqeoy 

it oi The beye muat be hungry. Jhey ore eliubihg up and down the 
eareon deer and withal so rooming, t Perhaps they eon ds toot 
•tad* to - o,\the arena of a fine eauoer of milk just orouwd ths eornsr 
out of eight.. I shall give thorn a brouh and* then io\ 
get buoy with some deok w ork.. •••• ____ 


Tuesday, S eptsmbsr 15th, 1959. 


• m.Q'v bjsij B.siyiu ofr noetsn '.,.v . t 1 »•* - 

tfcs.i.* o tiPnnoranduipi. s br-ioft-.-s jrei. bib Un abiej.i \i^ 

uou ticuiQ j) jssqt'y 4iSoL oAk 1 AoiAw tool ‘j*si 4 • 

i',-c r, i/ u> Sxpept fprm little { *pr$pkl 9 at 7 t hi one ruing, 

we go&pf rain,, oentrary tp ^predietiene. By neon the sun 
.U-S 9 VB& *ao out anfLrooainod Visible all afternoon, n Tonight, the 
S 4 0 UO slighted dputot noon, shewing p e.eign of a husoian 
« o oi sgils,nojeotioally in a oleudlees sky and 

summer seems te be with ue agaip,, * a subdued sort sf summer, 

M . 4 , CM, . O/o in opened tp^esuple of traneoriptione 

•/., the twp epeep^es, delivered by the freeident and 

^ + ^ V waMtt ” roes /-9 ml •ittmoomr? h 


t 0& C‘\ 

W9*\S bB8T 

«ii\4 

1 .h 


J 04 
•t j 


t ilo'S 0'\, j) 
io\ itin 


4/ M SfWF Off wuifo mj iovaovwo an ygg nom « / w w\owe*w sjo"\o 

the (?ha$rm7, g§ delivered*by the two heads s •/ Stats 
when^fhe^Bjlissfans blep in. Intake., itthe weather was 
/<> vlfePlton*ithppgh I heard nothing mere about that than 
a K r§/erenge Jp ^butterfly^ that. attraoted "the Chairman '«■ 
attentiepwhile,the Preeidept pyensuosd his ersetings a nd 
samethingAp^pther abeut n eupbesm*. ! though* the 
ProgidenKe word very earefuUv theten put quite 
adequate* tinVMSh? the c hairnon'e' opeooh pretty 
T good Ulith 9 00 uple sf uninport apt mi s-etyt omenta m 
andthe 0 rsfsreno§its the Buseian ween,reokst. In 
the former gntegeryp;A hpve■>$* mind that the refersnoe 
by "the Chairman" te the warm reoeptien wae making uee 
MS*/ pn adjegtiue Jhat.^eGrgelv applied and, sf oeurse, whan 
h§ $snarhgd\ that he dy4vMeyparty< had K lsfi Meeoew tn 


the ngfn$qg v an4arrfyedit» Washington the game ms ruing, 
bio Jhat' X pesy iS tAgyitextryeiotiaooxit,was past, nsss but^tho lins 

b( .y. wag gss.dapd, as, hs usedzit.^ if* suppsse. hs iutendsd no thrsat 
• \ by, piaeih^smpdneigzen ths\shsrtmeeeoef ^dietanee bstween 


(li BUO 


Ruefia pndufhg., United„State*', altbeufh if 


threat igert intended, -the inclusion of this lint-mao Unfortunate 

thapimplioatien.wgs jelt. 


t, fifffi«s49\VOA4l8^f«9«n*Vi •»«eplo of Bute ian li—bil ity 
tg .aonirehendoAmeriqan peyohology, *-the*roforenoer.to the Soeket, Pe 
tonally^itsdtruok me.betk tke speeeh^ 


e. 


oloeus and the acknowledge 

were tii- s lsM •. forhaps^both sides wanted,yardagpifor propaganda 

*— *•-- -- ' - t — seemed te underm 

lessening 
ep: trenehee by the 





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±«wi fcl «Vl4L»>0*Y. 


ah* ! \ - • » 

atoBa no 




b rti4<u anuBoioia 

..... o«i**ao ai o»\n: a *~-“ ■ * . 

4 no’\ ob «1 jnon .*A *>o** us«». 

.... 


10092 


1*0001 



10093 




. - 


na S* b“ t AObOt- 


I u)q8 quite surprised this afternoon te see Blythe and Jean. 
I was busy inside and did net respend immediately te a knsok 
at the deer which I theught came from a oeuple ef yeuths 
,i ohe were going teask me for seme pear's and se I went deng 
i;;.. gaily with «•*« notations I was making On this machine, 

t enly te Scream fer them te wait a minute.' They waited several, 
and when I responded, 1 discovered net enly were the yeuths 
present but Blythe and Joak Were parted eh the bench beyend my 
. a view frem this desk. 

Blythe had quite an exoiting storyte tell abeut an 
adventure the twe ef them had had last Sunday when 
b le a ving the read te t he samp and entering upon the 

highway leading te the bridge. A youngmulatto,perhaps 80, 

$u. had bleoked the read^ With his car and sens'*itter and cursed them 

'V fer having,as he olaimed, endangered his preatess. Within 

a few minutes y following thet r departure thik'afternoon, I 
was able te identify the ear easily enehyp frem their 
desertptien. It belongs th Cook Sam^ a grandson 
of the late Hymen Cohen, but Coen Sam was »irt 
theodrivsr. I shall thave the identity ef'the driver 
within the hour and shallset- wheels HPHekie ft te - 
a ourb any repotion of hkoh^a perfermaneep '*■■■' Si 
n. ...... i' -osn men an 4 e. ji:.v an¬ 

ils- t - After muoh flip-flopping and seO-sawtng back and forth, 
i Governor'long. Who had tetesign today if he were te run fer 

» i' Governor, finally made up^hie^mtkd today ts' run for 

at . s Lieutenant Governor on h l ticket On which ht^persuaded his old 
i.an. ifriend and'seno tine able-assistant of' Huey, Janet A Hoe, 

t> would run as Go erner'i ^I'suppose the deal is that if elected, 

* Mr. ffee^weuld resign after being sworn- in and' thus Cousin 
Sari wtuld become Governor Jon the text Kettr years anyway. 

• S But, at the moment, tt isn t thought the'people 5e 
y*< would quite swallow this latest-dish^of raw food. As 

James A. ffeefe~2ast name is a single syllable word, the 
a ..v j-uoiUo', a:'. opposing candidates, newspapers-and radio\will^probably 
n refer to thts^ oonbtndtiot as No-Long,‘which 003 
-na iiu c4 somehow seems to have :j thb potentials'Of killing a oeuple 
$»wnteeai/^irdi with eho^otenh.^ Pertape'HtrriEOnJperhape 
s*'.0 Vio a a v. on an Davis, but B e-Leng\Oughtts be the rallying ory, I 
eheuld think .. otoet ociam at* bTio *aro.laoi 


n a- 


4 o sow dOoAtJ in 
iUsi^viAQ \aoxa 


itcio; 

ana. 


> si' r> 
3 a a 


ci 


Lou LI 4 


bin 


«« . na4> ns bit a«c uabnuft ^ 

Wednesday, September 16th, 1959. 

n>a . • ■ J"/;.)■ Joni bto*au« a.w \o aoHoinusuL a.‘-4 T 

Muiooi Si> silHoo &4\7 4ii 4-uady, 
inwian no si an ah* t ho scan *»A* no\ bun . 

ui .aua noy Uo\, *«oiq c* -•* 4< • ••'■. » fca>s * 

5 >; .1 Aoiitai bass ani bana\\.a au 4\ 1 t V>«o^ oi v« «•*> i ; )S n 

- t a.0«u4ei.i 4\ons tti bud 3 . : " ' 

Memorandum f\ ftaa> a. j lituu 4i ^iiSbiori ’ n- 

o4 ooibnoooo t 4ud an r.\ad A • ‘ 

A lovely eummer-8 day, a^ equally lovely mummer e 
night. he white garden is bathed in the t 

whitest moonlight einoe it get Jarred by a reoket. Even 
my eld friend, thatmockingbird, concurs and is preelaiming his delight 

ts the dimming?, etafe* . a - ‘«n. • -^ : -s. 't - . ^ 

eau 0 al \o ns .. d bno \jIoh ' m 

I believe I heard, meet ef the ”Chairman’s * 
answers at the Prose Club luncheon. Surely the translating 
sf everything takes a.1st of time• I oouldn t find anything 
other than a confirmation of pre-oonceived notions that 

Justified the spending • > so much timeen the matter bi. sj 
te hand * By. ducking the important queetienel oouldn t find 
much by way of)ewlighienmopt in whap he had te say. When * 
a eked, about tbeu Hungarian business, he had^the nerve te eay 
he-.had received) 

their souffle, and , *.. . - --- - . 

in giving serious consideration te such non-senee, except 
as a crystal dear example ef hie double talk * assume 
that if,.by might ef arms, all the revolutionists in the IS welemieg 
had been murdered, le a ving the country to~the loyalists, J ssrgs the Thir> 
might hafs received a very warm welcome, had he vteited the place, tee. 

I have long theught that tee often men are merely 
boys whs didn't grew imp* « ** •• 

oe Aaaw oAt 4«i yin^a bnowno\ ftft. ou ?4 ■ *■* ; 

I theught the legerdemain b which American correspondents 
were kept eu^ef the Foreign Relatione Committors t$ a party 
and the Editor sfiPravada and assooiatoir got tn, Mthmteh >* 
it waSagreed no newspapermen would be allowed washmerw^er lees 
indicative s/., the way the Kremlin deeeh t play bale. r_n*<22 
think\the President oiurugseue-in having^invited the Soviet big wig 
and that the chance made the invitation feasible but I 
think the " hairman" is a f»el in net getting better 
advioo^o n 4n«rioon psychology if he really wants te . n 
aooompltsh muehwith the United Sta os, whiohy very 
pees ibly, may may net matter* mush te fci»*- nu v :i> 1 »♦- 

11 •, a4a au®4 ^ad ua 

. \( i 1 1 


ay a 


si'i 4 


Hungarian business, .ne naa -one nerve *o ouy 
a warm welcome by the Hungarians, following 
ind 1 , for one, didn t see much point '«> 


«an\, .,no 

. nt •• 


J'lliSg \o 


ii soi'. 

4 oh* 


sob 


.i't ii4, 








From the FRANCOIS NlGNON PAPERS, #M- 5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library', Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


10094 


10095 


i*t * *\ . 

» Ou4 


On the garden /rent, ene eldater a/ter angst another 
during, the. poet three dags passed thie way to aok /or n a Lard seeds. 

It seems that the luxurianoe 0 / the mustard that /ourished this year 
at Ghana was a talked a bout in the cabins as looking 
exceptionally promising and /or that reason, there is an appeal /or 
seed, now that it is most time to plant /all gardens. In 
each appeal ooming to hand, I have o//ered the seed which I had 
gathered /rom the looal patch but in each instance, I was a skod 
i/ I would mind holding it until the moon had beceme 
dark, I didn t know it be/ore but, aooording to 
local believe, mustard greens * i/< planted when the moon is 
waxing, will Jump into maturity too quickly and go to seed “ 
weeks be/ore the pi outer has bad an opportunity-io 
to; get much /ood /romn.tkm.plaiitkK But the v> 

seeds are planted at the dark 0 / the mosm, the .la.nt 
will grow more slowly and a maximum number lo/ leaves may be 
had all Sbrtntf the autumn, I thought.overybo&yms carrying 
it a little* Jar wfren they, said it was better Jor the would-be 
planter to.\leavei, theseeede. in the hands 0 / the owner until the 
h„d darkened, Jsr even the presenoeoj then seeds in the home where 
it will be use will tend to?have an e/Ject, although not planted, 
by, the position 0 / the mooen, -\ And so I hags separate envelopes /or 
di/Jerent. people while I, /or .one, have already planted my 
/all garden and oertainly, do hope the moon pitlls up the plant 
speedily, /or 1 should lilse, to have a good stand 0 / greens /or the eye 
by the middle sj next month,* - - v . t ^ buo > 

frt'ioxa • e-nor. AouB c 4 inii, . s e«oo euonse i Bi 

I continue receiving requests /rom up and down the river and /rom t 
.v.o va'ipoople wanting gourds- eoausO 0 / the heavy rain/ull this year, 
s.\ t v ,tJ calculate the local crop about, halj what K is might have 


Thursday, September 17th, 1959, 


0 1 0 \jobci ; 6VT f’otV T6»4r i * ss o» bsJtoie 1 &•' 

iiT a<? ; ttoi.' £»»'"(c’,iii lu;n J4 ibbn 
-->1 f."*nftV 4 ue ’iA* «c mii\ 0* i.V. 


i been in a more Javorgble season but, even so^At still have lots 0 / gourds 
and aa distrutting thsm^at a great rate, . The shipment /or 
Beltsville Experimental Station in M arylawd c . 

will probably be going Jorward early in the week so that the 
n\,indigent /armersrin the tropical,nay bo?advisod 1 

on t yat subJpot by the^, Department o/-\ Agriculture, > I * 

•tfffX'HkUafr. that whole -'.project quite oeok-eyed'since the tropios will not 
us-v* t mfoeJjMo urde, in view e/ntbe: humidity? rodentst^eto,, but that 
lit 9 ,/or fto department .to worry about ginoe 1 haven't ■; 00 
, .,acquaintgd them with the problems^involved and they persist 
fn going ahead regardless,*^. i t>,\* sbo: h bokcAo si’, tnfla 

rb'stoi 4oi; Hi Ioo\ 0 ei "«©r*w©A " ti, • 

Mrs, Wal ker Just called to, say. Shot-Enterprise hqs $0 
gone to press qud. that she is pleased withthts?week s edition. She a aid 
she Jound some artiole b C,vRamoey about wel/are or some - a 
such and, 1 believe she said, she treated it 
editorially .. 


•• ‘ LBU <: 

t> *t*\ bn - 
iu 

,aa£i nt-iu' 
kvd ob bxj 


g. ,.tu i>" & *. 0 •«* • 

>Memorandum 1 . *'■■■■ .0 •' i 

. ... . .4 .0 •* -J • *-* • - ■' a ' 

A lovely summer s day with Just a suggestion 
o/ K autumn,. not yet arrived, but somewhere Jupt over the horixon. 

Little ling, home /rom the air bate in Colorado Spring, 
came to see me this morning, He sayp he isn t returning to his 
li/e in the armed Jorcoo, nfiih all 0 / his Jive or six daughtsrs 
having been maxxisx born between visits home, last 

- child was a. son ,by seme other jjentleman, he thinks he wants 
to return to civilian,li/q> which is certainly understandable. 

With twelve years to his credit and thus .well on his way to retiremen 
my guess is that he may change his Mi yd, once he has detached himselj 
/rom his unijom ayd±tried;-.whateven he intends trying outaide ths 
realm 0 / the military, like everybody else, he grows older, 

0 / oourse, —he must be approaching the r pe old age 0 / £9 or 30 by n 
his smile is as gay as ever and his mannerisms still retain 
the imprint •/ hie mama, good.eldiZelnm whom I’ll a 
.. bet .little Miss Lee still remembers, ■ '• * 

a-vu a... iimues *ud at *to\ 

I /eel instinctively that^theabig laugh •/ the 
whole &uasian trip in the United States can never been 
exceeded,[by theAridieulous episode at the WaldorJ, Surely, 
ij therev.be atsingle^evmmitrto Gapitalism in the mp 
Vesternwerld, that eymbol^ib: the Waldoroand'rthe^/aet 
that the elevator bearing thq,Huseianzbigwshot and his 
wi/e should have stalled, Joroing them to olimb 
, x Jive stories on Joot is something Bosnian propaganda 
will novev 'cease talking about- and I shall never cease 
30 being amused about, thishtlartousc/ailue?at the 
. moot tolling moment in the li/e 0 / Capitalism?* citadel, 

^ Ihe only oonparable'>uisohanee^tbat could possibly. 

compare with this when.the Pvesidentwisitt \Moaoow aould 
bq the di so every at^thejftate banquet that the mait re d hotel 
had Jorgotten tq inolude carviar, vodka and Champagne on the 
menu, 

yon q-j r,oo»iTJ'\o Bi* 1 .! - si' b*ro4iu®L84 atnoLo’b 

.r ,A letter /rom Warren today asks./or much additional data 

■j, t $sVs t; i j* 0 "ioX baTauooeib b«o bsi'«bo: *0900 ^ ioi 

p' jyri lilbiiisi o boil i &BtMt »4'.o \o ano ns tnM 1 

uj-Toir tsiUt bl oft a an* •r.uM .n»J8i«- bnanauaa 

.o 4e*ti\ u® Bow eiiU 




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10097 


10096 


Friday, September 18th, 1959 


; % M\L nftd; a v, so t i.tsi' 

As I started to say, a letter from Warren today asks 
for nuoh additional information about Ghana, I 

shall be delighted to write hi* on the subject of the plaoe later 
tonight, *nong other things he asked was the 
availability of a photo of Ghana before its restoration 
was undertaken, The answer must be in the negative although 
I shall point out to him that a likeness of Ghana, painted 
in 1955 , does'appear in the Banter mural 1 he 1 'reproduced 
in osier, Carolyn passed this way just before restoration 
started but she WqS either in too nuoh of a hurry or didn t 
i : h ve■■■her- oamera, * forget which, but I an net eorry 
r. I an unableito send Warren a r likeness of its appearanoe 
i pr^er. to restoration for the eimplb t'iasoh that it, 
like *ariO‘Antoinette's haneau before Ur. Xookefeller 

undertook that restoration, mas- so bubbling over with a sweet, sad 
aj oham that no restoratiou'en^earth could offset the same & peal it 
had always had* so-that a Before and-After set of shots 
vtuld leave the person viewing it^ full of wonder 
as to whioh he liked better, .V"- - ’ - 0 

o bio a. *\ etu.b.ijctc.i'.u a:, -e:. »«-- t - J 1° 
e , 1 was glad-to get. the‘-natter that had upset Blythe 

straightened out? today. The*red and white roadster'I 
had attributed to the doings^ turned-out te-hauo'* been 
in the garage for repairs but several people were a ble to 
setne.: straight* on .the one that figured ih her adventure, 
u-jjt mas a ear belonging to sene people who brought 

horses to the race oourse at the honkoy-tonk last Sunday, 
and the youth who was porfoming erasily was if that party and 
h is return at o this neighborhood San Si easily bi ss 
.permanently diseouraged, X v x ? \ 

dipslo otmoAt auob •V* 

l, \ I ha verse on ths-uttist-. three ^tiues this week, including 


US.'.Cl ',S<i HOO S' 

Memorandum n ’• 

A perfectly lovely day, an equally perfect 
i. night, o s- " *■' w • < Li 

i fruodo MeJtaaup abi seii-T sv.c\j«: 

Everybody’s health seems on the up and up, I 
ctsnw "Pa” going in foot from the gin to the store. That was 
this morning and this afternoon, .the artist told me that Pa 
had had.a alight stroke earlier in the week and was having 
to remain in the bed#- I had heard about the stroke but 
the news that he mas staying in.the bed seemed different 
and X was wondering if the artist did or did not know that h 
friend was pranaing about, I think^she strives to keep hin 

* v . _ *. 9 . i.r . A, -A.I. _ -1 AJ_J. ...'11 k. 



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10099 


10098 


Sunday, September 80th, 1959 


Y. K,'s visit to Byde Park and his speech in the afternoon 
be/ere the united Nations, I take it that the naming 
turned eut about ae unsatisfaotory ae the a fterne on, Followii 
the epeeoh, I conourred with one European diplomat who asked, 

"How dunb does he think we oan be," when Ur, K, 

suggested that everybody dispose of their armed foroes, — 

after which an inspection might be made to see if 

all had oonyliod, Up^to now, and I write at 

10, I have heard quite a few oommento but I haven't 

heard anyone raise the question about Chin a , not a member of • 

United Uations aud therefore net', effected by the throwing 

awcy of the several national armed forces, I don t see 

how Mr, t K, could seriously makwthe suggestion he 

did, not only because he must have known nobody would have 

trusted him to carry tout his part of the bargain unless 

inspection wore carried on prior to the final disarmament, 

a nd howdn the world would d 1 the nations, including %«•<• 

be expected to eliminate their defense if that bandit 

with a pigtail were left tn possession of all her onu• 

t:aa' fc-.i' uA iiuii uon inauot 

I think 1 shall knook off a column for next week under •< 
such title as "Grandpa arried a Strumpet", attempting 
to reduce the international confusion to the sire of a family 


Si\t ** * “ " , ' .... 1 

*-x*u 914 v Ui- * ewa 

a nuA aulQ v *• -* v •*»*»«* 

,-i s‘;,uq$ *•* bib .bo»\ \o ^ ^ . . 

io« UJt'e \n *«*ia«*o**» e*l 

.. ■ - ; • «' .. . . ■ 

Memorandum *, <*/, Ri «. . ■.* . 

an v oabl »«»* 1 4 • 

1 Lovely, cloudless weather all week-end until tonight 
when itrseems a day cloudy, I hold the thought it may 
not rain until more ootton has been gathered, 

It was grand to receive an air'mail from Lyme op 
'Saturdayihought little Uios Lee remarkdbly prompt 
in beunoing the Beltsville letter in this direction, I 
am sorry to learn that the mnual pile-up is again upon us, 

I pray that personal correspondence'may not be undertaken while 
the s train continues. Conserving every ounce if energy 
during mu eh spell is so important for the health of 
the one most concerned and the happiness 1 in realising that 
this is being done on the part of the other, 

0 zx ^ w 1 

At supper time on Saturday night, the cook told me that 
she and so mny other plantation folks had journeyed 
to town pp Saturday evening to sag goodbye to the > • , 

two cowboys, Petor and George, who a re supposed to be 
heading for Angola shortly. She said it was such'a 
Sorrowful gathering, what with everybody crying, George 
was sentenced te six years,according to the cook, and 
might gpt L ou$ onzprobation withih 8, while Petbr was 
given two years and ought to got m i» nine months, 

» j lliiO0C C/ i v ijjiV-i 0* « w*' ‘ 

About midnight on Saturday, the artist telephoned me. 

She said her son,.King, had>a pe^ fbx, about throe quarters 

grown, and he/iwonderedHf I didn t want it, B a lf 

a wake, I declarsd a pet fox was the one thing the dusks and 

I had been longing for all our lives, The artist 

came by the frout gate to Tuaod'thfs afternoon abou f 8 and said 

King with {the fox. wps by the fence beyond the bamboo of the 

white garden , I thought the fox more •than 'Udlf grown as I 

received it from King^s hands. Be had made a little 

harness for it to which a rope was a ttached but the artist 

and I oarried it over to bans tn spite of its weight, I 

asked her to tie it to a bench for the balance of the day and 

on the morrow I would see about having a house rigged up for it 


f.DOi b«o aaa 
iud fti.u'vie a iSii 
bazaar- 


i:, zi Today's post wasn't much. It was nice of 
. Warren to send along the spot+dtgbt although the publication, 
itself, doe on .tiseem to be very exciting, —at least 
not the pant I weed, i - » oi 

a At steal eAw io\ sail \.;.i 

The red Guernsey lilies, encircling the greenswards 

z . in front qnd behind the> African Bouse are setting their Bongo. 

. - Hbifire aglow and the setting As. quite pretty, a s you 
\ Way recall from the picture tn oolorul . 

sts,:. .that ap jo ared with Cane a jyer shots in the Pioayune 
met iu at few years. baok*< J *amhwmngit*'do quite 
i ,c a 1st with,utho * uerusey lijfiec this winter when I 
.getaround lay out thoQKana garden, -o. 

sc, \o fttbve o ul ^1<S eAt Ml at o 

lit. , i: . . Ann Williams Britten called me this afternoon to 
ask if r could use 7 or 8 additional hostesses 
this year and 1 told her L oould, I 
coot oA shall be all* to wake use nf*even 1 

more, 1 believeand she said she thought she oould 
prooure same, That will give me more time to 
circulate among the Yucca, African and uhana houses and 
do business with the pilgrims ,<>«*«-»•_~ 


t9W04i o 











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f’.COOi: 


10100 


10101 




Monday, September Slat, 1959* 


f 9 * at and . c9rn br sad for the new pet. 

S.i L. . ‘ * n ’ »• ‘ trin S O'rv Ugh* but th. 

{’A * , nl1 * h ‘ r ‘ tonight when I went te give hta ■ freak 

“Vd tr an hl aa,tk,r * ab •/ /••<!. I Hi net tench the rep, 1 

”•***’be delighted te 
ppiy him with a comfortable heme and an ample euvply of 

J99a * . • ros-.;. b it s o Ur «< ■ . 

**t?/* 5 £* d * h# *•*»**•*• just » rang, — 
that £•***»•• J operator 

I ^ ad to d W a| r*«<i /#r BatenBouge and she relayed the message, 

wJSi'iw .-iCaralya appeared about 5:30 but did n *t 

iJS£f Jj w«atdir«atii/ to Ghana where ahe Wok eix interier 

b k ki iri**f ar and ^flew to BeVonBougs. 

\n ell. A ti t **? *° d *•* received the lotted I sent her 

gBr* *• - *• — 


thin/. a., 5 7«r. noagos was planning to do the aame 

thing but the children were ebjeoting . ^am^gldd' 

iltSSS until*tie****** tH * ^ 

... o £iu*ti ti*o s*'« tow X 9 \ o osiaiosii x ,?'r«in 

i--ir '-"I ■ „*totUi *tuo 11 s -toY ttlkDK«l t.ssd b»A 1 

it aolJ?M n T i * r9 ** S J: ir l in 'S * 9t * S s*ehew 

Ihetfflln 1 "*' 7han . k * fer bouquet, eepeoially, 

sTicJ ' ••••♦*' -40'. tAi. :ort* . »3 Ul. 

Stti , . - boA »Y. »©*i\ *i btukeoet 

relfrta o»\o Ond •b&nocjt c eotu sect u AoiAu o$ ti b&bi'.t. •' 

1 ,tM 4 3.1 l.v-; *\,0 Bi-i 6 Ki O«0i' o4^ T9UQ » t>*4TtOO i. 15L 

Qt.C \.o 4o..aia<i Aoifftd t> oo sii - oi 19*1 btV.es 

r \ qu btooi-^ dfauoA o oiuytA iaoiic ass bluaos 1 wovfon tAt ito 


Uemorandumt 

It ta atill aummer, and juat a little toe hot, but 
a shower ai#ut'3t30 thia aftemoem oeeled thinga *1 
slightly and g a ye >the jetton piehera alt early reapiteo 
, > ,; b jeu« •*■ UoueAtia tu td ! iv.nAe »i« 

r tr, the f irst time the plantation. Celeste 

faiXc4 to turn up, at the coffee hour, this morning. Madam 
Regard explained that Celeste was busy dusting be ok a at the big 
house. Mover bejem couldanything prevent her from suspending 
3 J operations foi* 9 .o.'eleo* oojtfoe* At supper tontght, J. R . 
remarked, aomemhat Jocularly^ that Celeste felt the Only place 
she could get a good, night's &eat was at the hospital and 
that she had accordingly gone to town to catch up on 
her rest. .^sito- \>lc. a- t i &■-■■■'■ a 

/t *0 alhOJnpntMned that, *onry had 'phoned from 
Wyoming yesterday to say that,, he Jiad asked for and i 
received a transfer from his B • B • A. post in the 
Rockier to a like job in Arkansas and that the transfer 
will be effected in ffouenber* a move that probably delights 
.■ nobedy except Joe. >qoA iv’ijA en 

X made a round at bona about sun up this 
morning and^ as I approached the place^ the fox, freed from 
hie rope, y came trotting s.ulu^s. meet me. He seemed te¬ 
en joy the breakfast I brought* him. a Emmet and Brwin '•* 
seem to have had a peaceful night, toe , and L was glad to observe 
this happy foot. This noen I heard a let of barking in the 
direction of <*hau a and I descended on the place, driving 
off Mike, the boxer, and.a couple of\earning friends^who 
were 'obviously intent §m working the fox, neatly tucked into 
some recess beneath Chaua where they esuldn t Teach him. 

But Aow^thai the dogs know he is there, I suppose they will 
oontthui worrying film and l? shall ooutinue worrying them but 
something tells me,the fox will eventually bo taking to 
the woedi^ One thing ie certain. Is am not going to keep 
him tied up for the dogs to yep i(fe*«s'>- 

X missed Intivtation to Learning last week because 

, o , m 8 ai.i9ti8 t«»oi , tt0.9'' oA . t • ' ' 

■*• A^uoAiio jxo« ob 04 &I 0 !U ^ 


i-398 *’ 













in Che Southern Historical Collection 


10103 


10102 


Tuesday, September 88nd, 2959* 

frJS*: ow eilU' 4 BU\, 


Aiu&S i ;ua« x uo 
ina'acl\ sad eira 'ii 
s»\4 SnM 4oa »-'» 


it wa^a t presented but I caught .Up with it tenight and 
I liked '■what was eatd concerning feltatrs'e Candida* Next 
week the letters of Marks and Engle are up fer oeneideratio a. 
mi8 sheuld be instruct ve although 1 must say it dees seem as 
theugh eld Marx has c been given lets ef space during the 
past 40 years, especially by the Russians, al theugh they never 
get a reund te practice the theelegy ef their-pet saint • I 
never fail te marvel that people oentinue talking • 
abeut the o ntempsrary Seviet Government as Cemmunist sinoe 
it never has been anything ef the sert* Somehow it f s as 
silly as theugh the Catholic Churoh oalled itself the Hely 


o bJhucoo o s»:o *tou ad4 ofr bans-e*!. i 

Memerandumv\ *>.-s „ s •" i am" - ■ 1 n \. 

j. J ebiqcft «ee y. . hi.ocz £.JU« *v. . i ivS 

J; - A lovely summer s day* u\b At'm ..-e a' it- 

T5,.ui oi'oot ad4 ai joi o4 nuf4i;ai4 on 

3 , y It was an odd assortment ef mail that came te hand today* 

I had a aeuple .of opportunities target it read but.I had 
a fleck ef etfier things awaiting me, none ef tbemWmportant, 
and so J le\the letters slide, .evef until the morrow because 
I was quite sure all of* them weuld bore me, -«*8ucfc as 
Eve toed ffem. *4shit a , Jean o'BrJken from New Orleans and so on, 

.4 >o os ijoart dwd ~ .»•> js aiii ia'o UftbaKurtl 

Celeste remains at .the hospital but. will probably oeme 
home tomorrow • J* E* told me he had talked with the lady 
dec.toJ\ who said Celeste was alright but simply had 
her nervep. pretty well:.keyed up* .The lady doctor has spoken 
to me.pfthfe, patient before, expressing herself rather vehenently 
n bout these peoiety butterflies, constantly ft flitting a bout the 
flame ahd then expecting pork-a-day people te fsel eerry 
for-them whei\ they get exhausted from the frelio* I 
aekefi J^M* if he thought Celeste was taking any rest, Me 
thought so but didn t seem sure-and wasn t particularly 
interested* I'll bet phe has a stream ef girl friends 
bussing around, all ef them talking a mile a minute 
and with a bout the same depth, as the fissing glass ef 
champagne■* Madam fisgard, for her part, seems te be 
relishing ph§ little paeatien she is getting by this 
opportunity, te be alone* bnuo'vaiaiu^s.aT a^ob 

to oiubid efr«i a4<4 lant*do**\ y \i»do 

;s.l" ii was about', te, pay Madam Regard a visit this a ft e ms sn 
around 4 but Just as I started in that direction, I enoeuntered 
Dr*: Talley, bearing a bottle o'fTay$lor's pert* 

She had pjeked^uptSOMiprimitives at,the artist's houss 
and remarked that she is sending qi its a-few ef these creations 
te.England where.it seems the artist’s work ita 
becoming knows among collectors y It strike us- 

tfaaoi 4aoI bano44tt»n ad 


helps had quite a let of epeuclating te dot' about what kind 
of a cabin they are^ rigging up on little Eva* I* told her 
I feared they were inclined te erectjust any eld kind ef 
a. hut instead ef one that would be photogenic * : T thought 
Eidters generally might be interested in reproducing, the likeness 
of a cabin of distinction ef sons sort* said thdt Warreh 

is ee oontrary that he went dt anything by-way ef ■ °'-’ c ■ 
calling a ttention to this area and sheknew he woUldn t do 
anything about a cabin, sines he had twioe turned down ' 
the stories submitted by the Mysterioal ladies* She wantsd 
me- to go with her and John to some historical gathering over 
at Natchadeohes, er howefer that Texas town spells its name • tut 
I shall have ether things te do next week although I thought it 
kind ef them te invite me* 

j— *^4jsdnew I must take up the dirt dauber matter, seeing 


1 o*, 5onad4 bna BBiodo to»u» w»\ 






From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in Che Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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COJLDi 


10104 


10105 


Wednesday, September 23rd, 1959. 


{ ^ \ • , % \ . . i) ( '>'■ 

at just this moment that somehow 1 never think of 
either primitives or impressionists has flowering much 
in Great Britain, in spite of the aot that the Queen 
is said to oelleot Monet's. 

I listened tonight to the various aooounts o Mr, K,'s 
first day in Iow a I 0 » e*r oh by the frequent references 
about how he will spend Wednesday at Coon h * 

will be housed with the President at Camp David on Friday, but 
no mention seems to be made on the radio about where 
he will spend Thursday, hursday thus beoomee u "*or- 
lined by the very void in oonneotion with plans for that day. 
Naturally I oamot help wondering if ~the agenda oalls for 
1. a day in Detroit^ Chicago or Pittsburg, with 

all references to one or the other of these plaoes beoause 
, o seourity reasons • thoteven the reaten, 

Thursday stioks out like a sore thumb because of this 

obvious hush-hush a bout it, . v 

I was interestsd to learn fremDr. TaL ley that 
she had found Dr.Worsley looking very old, although 
it was only two months, she had seen her, I reokon the financial 
: tangle into which affairs put the Worsleye »»•**• 

> mention the fact that-Don, himeelf, seems incapable of doing 
anything by way of gainful employment, must makes things 
a little tight at home and is bound to* give* Dr, Worlsey 
; a measure of impatience as she views the hedonist doings 
S>.r 

o The.fox was waiting for me this morning when I passed by 
Ghana to give him some breakfast. But tonight he didn t 
o come into view for his supper* There are eo_ many 
dogs rangingaround here at the too ment that * - 
suppose they may have fttghteued him into hiding 
per ape into the protective bey ou oountryaround Litthe River. 

L .In viewof James' interest in the B^eu Gorsoe Tete area at the 
0 „ mohent, I thought height find re-reading the^ - 

, . ,-n S - Isaac Erwin diary twioe as interesting as before 

and so I sent it along to him, secretly hoping he might 
find in it some peg on which to hang the Civil *ar 
book he mentioned last week 

And now to a few minor ohores and thence to fold. . 


Memorandum 

UfcjJr TC 9110 1 t 9 Olit-S-J v'.'.f'. .S J -9$ \,® “®® c 

<.A perfectly lovely summer's day with only thfrhvn 
■: of the cotton gin-to suggest that we have turned the 
oorner into autumn. Tor the first time in ft y memory, the 
U, S. Weather Station at Shreveport did not announce the 
day and the hour that summer departed and fall arrived•. • 

. I didn t^mind^'met being a preoisionist in suoh matters but 
beoause in the past they have always made such a point a bout 
proclaiming fust which minute the season woxild shift, I 
notioed, to my mild' surprise, that I had grown so aceuttoned 
to this non-essential a that I notioed*the absence of the 
report, if' itios- 

rubnvi 1 (to i'disra >ii& si.uo ojiq ia .’ 'll .r. 

s Celeste- lingered on anotherday at the hospital. At 
supper J. B. said it was impossible to oontaot her through 
the- ’phone in her room as she spends her time flying 
about the*corridors, gossiping with everybody and chatting with 
acquaintances in Ibe reception hullo ' - 1 - 

■ 8*<S;V.; mJIv, i 1 C«0»'V ‘Vlf. ,'oia'o. 1 

Poor Madam Regard somehow worked her imagination into 
a state of worry and was eo nervous she eouldn t eat 
any supper, worry about CelOite. I called on her during J 
the aftemeon and felt very noble"about resuming my 1 
--oall, following my supper, fot I really did-want to get the 
newscasts from Coon Rapids and Mr, I.’s day on the 
farm sione 1±Shall never*get the reports from the press, B ut 
the peace and comfort of the peer dear across the fence ie 
a billion times^mOre'important than any doings of . * 1 , 

Mr. JSi in C§ek Rapids and I felt paid off by a generous dividend 
after quite a'long chat with the lady-when she announced 1 that 
she was feeling so much better she thought she wiuld enjoy a 
little something to eat. 

. slu'l f. ot\ soviet no *\4n» ciiW a. tbwii*- 

There were two or three lettered n today's post, — “ 
unlike the measely batch in yesterday's that I should 
h a ve liked te explore, although none J Of them may have \ 

tuodij> p.sJrnu biuoo tii jtoq 

•jfejVj t ooKtufryt \iii'iiso'o'i kvd etti sno't -iio - 'w uiL; 

.V , 'IQ 1 ' ’\0 *t9l WUfl 9U0d '..UJC'T-OQ 9: - :• *f« U - •*' • Wo*t •• 


Si\Z \0 H89 0. 








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P.S #—As I was gathering up the enclosures, 'T 

. Ola Mae oalled from Shreveport, saying a he me sending mtah-I f W 
the Calioe preefa and the beak would be out by yjfff 

Ootober 8th at two dollars • I hold the thought, undo' y 
the circumstances, the proofs may need »• correctionim*,,,. 


10106 


Thursday, September 84th, 1959 


boon of the slightest importance but I know that one or two 
of the secretariat would linger a while gnd^ possibly, they 
might pass this way in the morning before,.venturing into the 
cotton and so 1 shall leu# this envelope open in., 
case, inch a happy .circunstanae should transpire, —o six. 
a,m, secretarial session in the morning* -and ifso, 1 shall 
enojoso anything that night, prove of interesf or. oven casual, 

/. i 4 4 ,<jo i iViU 8 8 ■ r>. .... istq 9i\ i Mi 83 

2\ was amused thisaft§rneen while laboring on the front gallery whe 
1 heatd a nuffled but unpietakoable bark frop> the direction 
of,the 0 b a *bs§ hedge, rattled a dish, suggesting feed 
as being in the offing and immediately the twin blapk sate 
and the old gray one oa me sucrrying while Emmet and Erwin set up a grea 
racket under the gld nagniola, i 1 fiddle.around and made 
an other chinking of the .dish and, as I had half . .. 
etpeoied, along the gallery came Menard, just: as though . 
he had been acc us toned t# the lt place alibis lifs,:.s 6 
I rounded up some food immediately and with j himati i.i. . e 
my heels, prooesdsd to Ghana where he dined and where X 
hope bejs »•» SlS9pi9f*\oit has always^ r ' xo 
impressed me hoWnaniaal^^one men age, although possibly 
hereditary enemies qther places, always seem to^tend to 
aooept their neighbors isJM same household as< snorosant, 
and i m holding the thought that Menard may be gutded x by this 
same phenomenon, now that..he knows the favorite t c: oc 
parking place of Emmept and Mrwin, X feel instinctively 
that Menard will.net remain very long, what with suoh 9 •- 
a great number of dogs pi png this sectionof the rivetibut 
I'm glad for him that he has had these few days of.»,freedom 
in this garden before the impulse sweeps over him to return to 
the forest, 

.003 fi.i.Msircs * L 


Memorandum: 


Another perfect summer s day. La .Li r* 

4 * - 0M iicrte ,8830010, .^l,. . 10'. HC. 

I understand tbs. patient ^returned from the hospital 
this afternoon, Rer husband at: supper reported her as being 
alright but f thought it considerate, •since I can put off 
the contact i t until the morrow, ••not to disturbs her this evening. 

The mail of yesterday turned eut just as dull as I had m tioipated 
Poor Jean O'Brien who has suoh excellent wuterial, such as 
Pitcairn Island* but. lacks the fgeilify of handling it with 
any appeal to the imagination, I mpst write her tonights 
to avoid the outr a gsously long lapse since or in repetition 
of my last failure to respond to her K gift and message, ' 

■ done Hi e^airti \c 5 Aooi\ » 10 Law . 

I was impressed by her state sunt that Kay was leaving for 
The Bluff "for several weeks", I reckon that is closer to 
the extent of her trip than the single, week that James envisioned, 

I shall bepartioui not to refer to this difference in my letter 
to James io*\5 *?.&« BioVad sioifru roV ILo® 11' 


-I pads some rough calculations at Ghana this afternoon 
to get sons general estimate of the extent of the friese that little 
Mfes Munter will eventually paint for that structure, to be 
t'uoked un^er the eaves • I i ealculate the friese will be about 
fourteen inches, in height and the parade of figures will^extend about \ 
50 some odd feet, what with the building being roughly sixteen feet 
in length and about fourten in depth or width,\ I guess two 
times 26 fegt plus two times 14 feet would be a little 
more than 50 feet but there is a d a b to be taken out where the ohisMoy i 
venes cm the Berth wall, . n‘\. -c «.>i. .. V 

t 8U a frp.juneo* oJrb»vcp aaal 8 j.i a- 

I cannot get the type of material 1 want for the baee- on whioh the 
p a no7Wo will be painted before next uesday*■-»After that,*I know 
not when it will be when I shall be able to get a carpenter 
capable of getting the. boards niosly»neasursd and properly fitten into 
the eaves.;ssotionk, what with many raftsrs projecting from the reef 
tbat will hays-to bo autaround, I shall not let the t artt.st 









r 


i- 


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1C 109 


1C108 


Friday, September qrfh, 19r9 . 


Mem #randu*« > - a >■. l 

vto '■* osof-cs:. . *«o* • 

Steamy all day and tonight, with a cleud oeverage 
that hae suggested rain all day but nothing happened* 

* There was ooffee far three this morning but no 
conversation, just a monologue to which Madam Regard and I 
and I cannot say which 0 / us was the more bored to hear the endless 
complaints a bout the unhappy way li/e treated the complainant* 
hie a/temoon, Father Calghan oalled on his two parishoners 
but wearied 0 / the sitting seen and so bade them a Dies 

overto laugh, and ohat with me where I 


begin eltp ping on the paint until the last board has been 
props rly fitted into plaoe, appropriately sketohed and then taken 
down for the painting process • Then I shall net le t the thing be 
put into pemanent position* until it has been thoroughly shellaced* The 
projecting eaves will pretest it from the ra*n but I a* thinking about 
a few decades hence-whetk the roof will begin leaking and the friese will 
suffer unless a protective ■sheilas, applied new, will stave off the in¬ 
roads of the moisture* 

I 6L ill- >:• su\, vUO Laai-tsi 3-‘\i .3 lie* 

Bi- i\Iuthjnk- I shall make it a point to get the entire friese 
photographed in oolor, toss before it is put into plaoe, for 
trying to photograph it, once, it is up under the e^ves, would be 
a pain in the ntofc* My,thought to tha-t if the a rtist has any 
luck in doing this jsb^the friese,itself, ought to serve as 
a medium for a flock of things in reproduction, such as a $ border 
for wall paper, possibly a 0 design for ohintser other fabric ancf so on* 
I laugh in my beard as I. 0 oh template the fact that Warren doesn t know i 
the.very Ghana on which he is currently pondering about doing an 


or an adieusi and ease 
was taking some measurements of <*hana* 

asked the recent visitor, to tho Grosso Tete area for some 
data on the badey rve cemetery which oame baud and 
to it was a°pat!agraph that made me laugh. It. seems that 
the wife was admonished to have her perseriptio n filled 
before leaving on her visit to her din tie but she said 
she had enough* On-,.arrival,.she tolophoned her 
husband, saying she thought he had been right and would 
be go to the druggist to see about a re-fill, a ut .u 
then it wo deaided-.that it wuld bosbetter to tc 1 ' r 
have a South Carolina dwuggeot fill it • • that 
it could be to hand immediately**.that meant the Baton Rouge 
druggist had to ’phone the hqrleston ohemist, . -0 
laboriously spelling'out the signs andsymbols that represented 
the ingredients, —quite a tnagle and quite o il •/ 
doings about something which might ooneaoily have 


article is right in the act of getting a new frill that probably 
will oall for cm other article before next year has, adu a noed very far* . 
know of no building with suoh an outside friese or border in this 00 wit 
and of <£ 1 the unlikely places to find such a thing, —on a log e a bin* 
Besides, the Pieay une has a regula tten that permits the use of 
thocsape place or personality within lees* thaw* 1 five years, and already 
Si he has dsne the piotoriul plates, the-blind thing, the gourds and 
irnotiit seems he <• going to do thet-haua thing this year and, for all 
osl know, he may feel impelled to do the~&han*^friese next year although 
0 V, swear Urn not > goings tbs suggest', such a thing to him for that really 
would be carrying the local set up a little faTa- it* 
s' -y-Mi frv .0 its-rto* ®d oi dob o e* viudi tMd Od 11. • i- 

It's akangaroo te hop from Ghana it* Charles Boland but now that 
he has been cppointedto Washington as Russian expert, the 
news oasters are talking about him being returned from 
ttye Phillipines, following his ou otor from the Embassy in Moscow "beoau 
of political pressure 1 '* -I wonder if you have notiood any 
KrtU\details on this^ouetor* .vtaSuit a Bailee doing or was it -- 
on ft.wa* ultra Conservative Senatorial group that effected it or what. 

Anyway ,.I'm glad he its baok on Russian matters, an ^expert, I 
believe, we should never have relinquished from a post connected 
with the State department’s experts en . .. 


if 







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10111 


10110 


Sunday, Septebmer 87th, 1959 


Archibald &utladge mentioned him once or twice in 
hia atoriea about life on the Santee River and Revolutionary 
military exploits around Hampton • I auppoee Mariana 
waa the moat romantic of the guerilla fighters during 
.the Revolution in an age when comparatively little 
guerilla fighting aeema to have been carried out, Let 
ue hope this new film will uae Hampton far the setting of some 
of its episodes. It ia such a lovely place, ita 
mere preaenoe on any film ought to do much toward 
making it palatable 

... iii c a: «o l.i.o no.' 0 , no ome- V ?-*•. 

Annn Williams Britton called me thiaaftemoon 
to aay that ahe and Jack were thinking of packing the 
children into the oar tomorrow a fternoon and driving down 
to look at the new Uncle om s cabin and asked if I didn t 
want to go with them, .'I iidn't. She said 
Gillette, the photographer, was 8ent down to get some 
pioturea last week but although he took a fow, he wants 
to be sent back again after they get some of the 
lubmer and traah, co-incidental withe the building of 
the thing, cleared away, % My guess about the cabin 
is that it is^probably without any "grande***" and 
in courtesy to Jack who beat the drumso hard to get the thing 
going, I might aeem to give approval to the 
finished produot by mere ailencoi ^t will be time 
enough for me to aeo.it when another opportunity oomea my 
way. In tho mean time, M have aamd nothnng to anyone 
that Ghana mnotead of Unde om's habitation, might 
make the Picayune and if that^ should * happen, both 
Jaok and Herman are going to fool a certain frustration when 
they age thia bend of the river portrayed beoauoe they 
oouldn t understand my suggestion originally 
that if> they Jiadi to build a cabin, they* introduce a 
< d a b of distinction to itsdtnes to attract the attention 
of Editors, «•:. 3.v> IS jhj . o:\ - mu ^ 

0 ■ a : . .r !, f .‘i\ *taJrJr»d -• ad ot Jr jo iu 

It aeema there's a vast rumpus going on at Beaufort about the 
family jewels, Among the pries exhibits Beth planned 
.no to hav n on display waa a collection of her mother's 
m diamonds which, because of that lady's advanced age, have 

long been kept in the bank vault with Beth's . . 

brother, J. H., refusing to let her put them on exhibt. She ia 
furioua, denounces him to everyone as a black sheep, etc., etc,,,. 


Uemorandum : 


Hot and humid, tempered by a lovely breeeo from 
the Oulf this evening that lowers the thermometer in the 90, 
at the same time thinning the moiature a little, 

. a'. . a- ' -u '''■■■■ ■- v.a: 

Pat and Dan went to BatonRouge on Saturday to a ttend 
the L • S. U. football game. They supped with tho 8. G. Henrys 
a nd at dinner today reported that branoh of the family just fine, 

c..u . acn 

J. H. returned from an afternoon in town tonight, arriving about 
7. He said all the candidates for Pariah offioes, —there must 
be a few doxon, would all apeak at the Cloutierville aohool 
tonight at a box supper and suggested Celeste and I join him 
in attending the flub-dub, We both deolined but urged him 
to go ahead and he did, I oan imagine nothing duller, 

At these meetings, the local oitisens bring food but the 
candidates do not, . Things get going by an auction 
of food boxes on which the candidates are supposed to bid. 

The money goes to whatever, group is sponsoring the supper. 

When the candidates are through bidding on the boxes, 
everybody eatsg.after whicK all of the candidates present speak, 

I cannot imagine J, enjoying ouch a gathering unless it 
qffords him apd opportunity to talk, shop with other people 
in the area tthom he wouldn^t see otherwise, 

. . bun "Aoo•• oo:o ■ a*W e»i • s.lfiU \o 

On Saturday, there was no-1st daps mail, suggesting 
we may get a double {tip on the morrow, I wasn t expecting anything 
in particular althoughit is possible something should be forth¬ 
coming from barren shortly, Ola Mae has 
promised »e the preface for the Calico thing by , 

Thursday of, tbflfc week so that A may get it to the 

Enterprise to serve as a column which ought to be 

timely, sinoe next week's issue will be the one most in circulation 

during the pilgrimage week end but long~ago I learned not 

to count toe much om 'anything from that quarter until the very 

last second* >■ 1 h% .oc emu* a *.i 





From rhe FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers, #M-3889 In the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library", Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


u tot 


1011 & 


. 


, ■ •- •! . <is . 9'v. - 


jMUlKi -U: . 1 

I gather from the telephone conversation with her 
last week that the bridge pads will, not be ready 
until Christmas time, \ It oooure to me that V ; 

another series of the same time might enjoy a measure of sales among 
hostesses both looal and elsewhere in the State, I think 
sets of score pads in groups of three might be attractive if 
. one boxed them under the title of , . 

. ,,i/r utw ts* - **'- •• 

These famous 

O. ■ . % I..,';. !i 01.-I ! ••• . '-'W'' 

i-.- Cane v River 

ioo*\r. -.ion .> s t ^ - • iUv.L t u*j\. :i s.c' 

Cabins, ' i- 

. •» ..a; . • — .M- 5*'« > ■ v • 

,T 3 . he looal. hamber of £ 0 * 0 , 11 x 00 is going to keep on 

beating the drum about Uncle rom's Cabin, That,. of 
course, should be one illustration, . A second might be 
. , ' the Lyle Saxon cabin, -mlucoa, A third nigh be the 
,-r Gh a na cabin, I h a ve ample material for all three so 

fpr as a suitable text is concerned, and if the illustrations 
a r« attractively p e sented+\the mere mention of any one 
ii ,pf the three cabins ought to set off chatter, among 

the bridge players, If properly handled, the text might 
therefore serve to stimulate talk about the erections 
of little Miss Hunter, the Calioo Cook Book and so on. And 
aside frpm that, the items themselves^ might be expeoted 
to hav a prolonged souvenir sale, too, I should imagine, 

. .. ^ 0A*£® *U)iuO»U>0 l‘.i 

I think I shall design another set. of a regional nature, 

Hodgeq Gardens, Melrose gardens and Mansf ield battle' park, 

I don t know,, —there s so much to do W* one could only pin down 
the Rocket and the Loet.^ord, '• ' 

k »•! • ;> t’.i .x .i. - Ho mV- ai J.Iiui auu.’ii a’Y.oaus fr-r.&it |piu , - 

And now Mr, K, has headed back toward the Kremlin, Veil, 
u. God be with him and may the boradcastihg companies make 

some a rrangement before he etums so, only the translations and 
not both the entire Russian language'and translations be included 
in reporting speeches on the next go-round,,,,,,,. 


111 


1 


10113 






03 




v> 




hs- SousiV'j 


8K •W'S 


September Bath, 2959. 

domra ob 0 * 3 c D d *' ib oitas 0 msu oM io\, 

•>.A i A .fruod rtlJ-.i i:UUs> • ft "sc , 
ho:;.0. os cit'd o- icaac v'r.oh ,.3. ■> t bLiw \S " " ; >^ 

Uii-i ejkiu-i biu vi. 0 - 4-0 chow n: SvJv.mh iiu# 

haa:. olo, . . do 8 . 3 as * . • '*• •*»' \ h. V 

Memorandum 1 % 

■ tom-.,,: , iw 0 j’i w. ■- Vi’:' - 

Caudy and humid, even as yesterday • 

_ . 

Carman oalled^me this afternoon. She was furious, 

I may have mentioned th t Ola Mae a week or two t a«* asked 
Carmen ‘.f^do at brief history of Hatohitoches, supposedly 
for a maga*ine\ It^turns out that it was to be used 
in a folder be fog issued by *Along Camino Real, 
Corporation*zWbe folder seems to be in the nature of 
a toyriotr 9 omblsm for the whole, region, covering plaoes 

Mansfield but has a lot of stuff 
1 been sent tut to eeOeral 
„ . . Hodges is probably 

paying Ola for publication. Carmen's 0 3 

short history attempted a nfw approaoh, comparing 
ffato^itoohe.s to a perverse t belle and, 
accordingly, was quite taken aback on receiving 
the.folder this noon and glancing through her 
contribution to r«ad that $«i*ooo 

■ no p 3 ;;■ 4 ■■ • •'• 

"Hatohitoches is a pervert belle",, 

0 Perhaps we were lucky in the case of the note 
paper that the text slipped no further than from 
wagon to wage, 

T . .. . .. 

, Q It 8'%ome that three M*es were also omitted from 
Carmin s'contribution, the break in the middle of 
a sentVnoe which.ends up by making ns sense 3 hi 


at all at that stage, and, naturally, 1 find myself wondering 


as far away as Many and Mansfielc 
about "a tohitoches, too, qnd has 
thousand people, 1 gather A, J, 


what Ola )foe 
Calico desk 

be her 

appear t 


HO 81 



code to nana a 
I have n«uB 

fly abeutlike. 


uoosed in doing with the text of the 
Proof reading doesn t seen ** 
from where,! sit, it deeen t 
ing te get much ohanoe te run 
sheets on my own hook since theg haven't 
the beek is scheduled te appear mext. week, 
ght the " ecket. pr the Lest *erd could 
ahiekemmith ft* hat off and ygt havo 


an .xo.lUnt oan in 

waAir \o 3H0H wae I “o\ viohT 3 « 88 \s \a 







t 


From rh P FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library', Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNINC: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


aim 





1011 4 



10115 



. ThiSr. past week end oertainly presented a break 
for the news oormentatore whe didn't h a ve t$ do nuoh 
leekingareund for something to talk about. Like 
the rest of the world, they don't seem to know much about 
what progress was made at the c amp D a uid talks but 
the foot that Ur, K, seems to have been pleased and the President 
not unpleased, one assumes that both must have thought 
they detected a thaw in the offing. I cannot help feeling 
that none of this would ever have oome to pass had 
Ur, Julies still be Secretary of State. I cannot imagine the 
.Kremlin boys suddenly giving up their efforts to infiltrate 
Asia, African and SouthAmerioa and I oannot see how 
they can possibly relax their grasp bn Hhe throats of 
so many Central European countries. Ik at changes in 
Russia might oome about seems to me within the realm 

of possibility but only, * must confess,' after more than 
t one Kremlin set has been or h a ve been replaced by 
more than one change of faces around the table of 
the Kremlin political table. am-a little puzzled that 
the President should wait to go to Russia until June 
when the political pot ought to be boiling merrily 
but pewhapt the ^resident s prestige in the Republican 
Party will be ^enhanced if he stages an appearance 
immediately following a tbUr in the land of the Soviets, 

In short, I understand nothing a bout what h a s been 
cooking and it appears all of must, like Christians, 
muoh do a lot of accepting of things more on faith than 
cP ything else,. V. t; 


A solid hour of radio time for the kick off of the United 
Fund drive between 8 and 9 tonight, knocked out 
everything else, including Invitation to Learning, It's 
certainl0Qtomarkable how often Learning has to take 
a b ck seat for anything diifr everything else, I, for one, 
would be glad to make a contribution ot Learning instead of 
all the high-jinks that seems to be necessary to persuade 
people to shell wt a little, something for united 
oharitiee or whatever the UnitM*Fundembraces. 

l; v\ • 

Sometime during the night 1 hea 
hour program as sponsored yesterday '■ 

«’ man's personality continue S'-to holdre 
. seems to me and hie ability to put ove 
unimpaired by the years. I believ+so 
a ib#ut him appearing on Broadway soon 


o oils') 


in a picture, * couldn't tell. 


eadcast of the ChevdL ier 
end'4; The 

well, it 

ajsehg obviously r emains 
ing was said 
t whether in person 




All the secretaries miAit have got lost in the 
Natchitoches Fair of yesterday for I saw none^ of them today 



Tuesday, September 29th, 1959, 


Memorandum * 

.ie or ©1 uiryr n S o jc y> noil . 

, It was supposed to be cloudy and rain but 

instead it was merely humid and hot, —somewhere 
. in the 90's, while inBenver it snowed and in Charleston 
iti blowed, r : 

u !!-- t'v.. o 1.0 I'.’C v , ■ : ; 0 nv' 

Perhap* it is just as well Kay selected this time to 
a be in South Carolina fer *he would naturally be worried 
. n . about Aunt Villie, were she in Baton Rou e, 4 

L*'\ •••oi.oc-h boo-., as-' \i V-"tvi* •- 

>A letter f row Ur, Short and when he referred 
to. his friend; r; Kane, I got the same start and 
the same impulse I always experience when somebody saysi 

... C it t 0 

"I'm a friend of c ammie Wenk," 

", . "0 886HS.0U0 btlUO'yj'U D jd ' a e 0 vru V C.so i 

Invariably I oatoh my breath to keep from saying j 

•• v . , i . 

n "I didji t know she had any," 

VZ\S I 4 ' i 5,8'.' V- .U'JS 0 •- V .1 - i M :Il> 

Dure, was a,letter from Ola M ae, too, and just qbout 
t as unsatisfactory- as usual. She mentioned that she was 
. sending a cheok covering the pictures she took with 
. her. when last she pas here, totaling exaotly 
what 1 paid for,them,—f!8JB5 cents, She alee 
made reference to having, lire. Kent send me a oheok for 
royalty on the primitive note paper. The latter oame 
\.< to hand, the former did. no.t, . More complications, 
more letter: writing that will never get back a 
satisfactory answer, n Mow, those- girls run their business 
is a mystery to me but they seem to run it, although 
whether they be heading it toward a star or into the 
t ground, 1 wouldn t know. -.V 

a..: .j«Vvioia-.. .«oWos.l9 8A4 Vo w nv. ) . o.oo 

And the killing part of it is that Ola Mae is about 
the only person I know who, would have the courage to 
fad attempt something like the primitive note paper 

and therefore is not to be dismissed too lightly. In 
the matter of the Calioo business, the book is supposed 
to be to hand next week and I haven't seen the proef sheets 
t yet a»& although she wrote some time back she wanted me to 
V, \ , see them before the book went to press, nothing has been 

seen iof: them, and no reference at all to where they may be in 
her current letter. We. really do know some extraordinary 
people. 


.1 




T 


From the 


Francois Mignon Papers# #H-3889 


in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


i n 


10116 




* 

A 


The interior of my boudoir tonight reminds me so 
strongly of the interior of any room at any time at Briarwood, 
1 sent the draperies to be laundered today and so tonight 
the only screen between me and the outside world is 
he bamboo hedge at the end of the white garden. Like 

Herr Sohweitzer, I have my windows closed, —not 
to proteot the bugs from the light but to 
protect me from the bugs. An electric fan is whizzing 
and, a ^ I am but scantily clad, I am quite comfortable . 

I find myself wondering if the good doctor felt he had 
to wear a startohed white uniform at night when engaged 
in his desk work. Surely * a man with se much sense as 
he is endowed with is bound to have adapted native 
costume at such times, I hope. , 

sir . 

I was impressed by a profound coolness over 
the coffee cups this morning for a sitting that was 
the shortest on record. 1 think the lady is quite dis¬ 

tressed with me because I included Mrs* Walker 
on my list of hostesses. Celeste didn t like 
the way .The *pterprise handled the R. E.A. thing last 
June and had to be discouraged, —not by me, however, from 
going to ( the office and trying to denounce the lady. That 
she didn't go was lucky,, for her, I believe, for Mrs, Walker 
has a keen mind and the complaiant, I feel quite sure, would 
have come off seoond Best. 

I believe the R. E. A. suit was settled today if 
I understood t night's radio news correctly or if 
I interpreted it a-right, for 1 tuned in when the topic 
was being reported. It is my understanding 
that the Judge threw the case out of Court on the 
point that the Johny Hacker orowd while in control, 
acted on the even ng of the election, approving the 
count of the votes and legally turning the control book 
03 to Jm Hm and associates. The Court declared the 

defeated Board was now a eking him to undo what he they 
had volontarily done themselves and accordingly their 
case was thrown put. ' r ~>* 

Bofj-t'B ' 00T 1 AJ 15308 - ' I13U0V bl'O ASSC.’ JUSli CJ SO 

It’s time for the news. I want to hear something 
0 : about Graoip, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Steel strike 

and then for a dab of desk work but not too muoh 
i before oalling it a day...... ■ 

• 8 - j'- 


10117 


tfjtm 


/ 


Wednesday, September 30th, 1959, 


Ksse 


irr 3 >' -i \o <*"OW t’TOi's ~ it* I 

*510 VI&U6 *9$ tsd •»' *>*V-Y 10iL. ... T , 

Memorandum: i . : 

. ,;r .; ! J '• ; -J ■. • 0 - : r . s’ 

There was so much lightning last night. 

°o»e sections of Shreveport got 4 inches of rain. 
Hatchitoches got enough, of a shower to wash indoors the 
college President's recpetion which had started as 
an out of doors affair. We didn't get a drop. 

•v s>.. c son . 3 *" ."v. b.... j1 ; s 
This afternoon Western Union 1 phoned a 
telegram from Aunt "illie. J t was a long telegram and I 
cannot remember the whole thing but I do remember 
the opening two sentences : 

1 

"The old cedar in the white garden is down. But 


today the sun is laughing at us... 


SO 


8 3-. 




She went cn to relate that the winds had 
huffed^ and puffed furiously but that the 
house had stood tight and firm and that-all. was well. 

I am certainly glad to have the message for one is bound 
tohnpe a little oloud of worry haing a bout the heart and mind 
when one con liders the loved one inhabiting a 
region t\Uffeted, by the elements, 
i sA cIO t \ji8«eivdo si. j 

morning 1 had a telephone from Shreveport. 

Knowing that fila Mae would be in Mansfield or 
Mannu to get a raking over the coaler By JThelna for 
the *pervert belle" in the pamphlet, I was 
a little surprised tha-nassage would be from Ola Mae's 
office. It ms one of her assistants who had been > 

f * to 'phone me 1,0 ask for illustrations for 
00 k book* z Imagine. With the 000 k bock 
utod to. be in my hands and finished by a week 
,^t 0 be worrying about suit n ble illustrations 
is late date. Months ago I had offered 
to procure such fterns but was assured there were ample 
supplies to hand. I know that Carmen has sent 
gobs of. piotures fort the aforementioned folder.. I 
recommended th use o£ these but the assistant said that 


. Mrs. Kent had said that Miss ford had said and so on and so forth. 



From rhp FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers# #M-3889 in Che Southern Historical Collection, 

University of North Carolina Library", Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


1C118 


ixsm 


10119 


t -)G isi'.i " ‘j ■ 


Thursday, October let, 1959, 


I m de short work of telling the person to whom 
I spoke that I thought they had better get busy and go 
to work on the material to hand, I asked if there was 
any definite time 1 oould expect the finished book, 

I was told "we arq working on it", I explained the 
publicity shouldn t be printed prior to availability 
of. the merchandise• The tour, as pointed out six months 
ago, was on Ootober 10th and 11th and the point 
in h a vi>ng the books then was to get the sales' whioh 
the Pilgrimage would provide but onoe a year and that 
wason the 10th and 11th, The girl repeated that they 
were working on the book, J could have batted her, 
vji; ■.,! an 1 j frud sic/ tadF’O at 

I thought the conversation was ended bu the girl 
caught me before I hung up the receiver, asking 
me if T would please write captions fnr a. 1 pictures 
I proposed sendijxa far illustrations , I told her 
I wasn t proposing to send ai y pictures and that was 
that, -With a stack of illustrations i in their office, 
how ridiculous it would be for me to send more, -mif 
J had any, —whioh I haven't, "■ -.a ss 

his is just one more example of that lamentable 
h a bit both the Pocket and the Lost Word practice 
of leaving everything to the last minute on the thory 
that sometimes they will just make it, 1 Well, in 
this oase, obviously, Ola Mae isn't going to make it 
ajid we shall h a ve no orean from Pilgrimage sales. 

As nothing has come to hand from Warren, it is obvious 
that Carolyn, ale^Aas been uable to \ supply the’U ' 
pictures taken hefe % week ago and thus the 
Ghana article will, not make, — oan’.t make, the 
Picayune by this week end which was the time i& should 
h a ve appeared to get the\ fulll value of that srtWry 
Pilgrimage, So busy with urgent matters 
that no tine remains to do the important, ~*mj' - 

. an ij-oT-eutli si- sins tv, 4- 

Juanita brought her baby to sesame this afternoon, 

: It isstiny-tiny but sweet as a peaoh, Pat came by for a few 
minutes and he seems fine. This is tiie.first time I had seen 
him sjpoe early summer,A believe. And so I sputter 
and so 1 complain about the girls but rejoiceaboutsthe Tatnes 
. n and Kays and Lillies ant} need I add', the little Miss Lees,,,,, 


Memorandum : ' 

lUl.i t :.it s tift-U . ' ■'•'t \ci 

Pure humid summer in the 90’s, 

. c- o S'. '• -it OU- S■' j« > </vOO- 

I find the arc an interesting one, from die - 
. appointment to frustration and thence on to hilarity, as 
I try to observe objectively the course of the birth 
of a cook book, 

• y. bs'ii'c."ar.M V\ •.* ■.>c,*i-- Vi 1 '--' • , “ liS 

Die LostVord called me at 9:30 this morning to give 
me the titles of the illustrations for which she needed 
captions, I wrote them and got them in the mail 
so that she up uld hav them by tonight or first thing in 
the morning,' 

Last night she' had told tie she would send elms the 
text of the Preface which I. want to use; for the pre- 
Pilgrimage hursday as a column and which has to go into the 
post tomorrow morning if it is to appear next Thursday as 
the section of the paper in which the Mpmo appears is 
published prior to the, straight news sectio n. And 
so 1 was pleased when 1 found a fat envelope in the mail. 

But with it came the enclosed note which speaks for itself. 
In other words, the text-sept plainly s tates that it 
is nof the one bqing used in the book and the one being used 
in the book, naturally, was the one 1 wanted,. Furthermore, 
the quotation from Die 1 imes, referredtxtg in the text 
which was to be oopied from ThjAimeeY and \ 
sent along for that purpose, is not witn the mMH/fscript 
coming to hand. In short,.all my plans for ^ 

launching ttye book have come to naught and, t this late 
date, T'don t even know when the thing will be launched 
anyway. One does what one can but when everything 
goes all.wrong, one would.do better to laugh than to 
cry, s« t ... <. v 

Today's poet was rather thin and as nothing has 
come to hand this week, 1 find myself wondering if James 
>'i ~ose a to\ I to* o*-' tonit tsrt wi 

\t Itl *M ot teottr.ro nr be .t jU ’» 

, a tsi’ at*;. ysrtt flsito t Iloost e « ■ 3 ' :i 3 




no 


words, the text sept plainly s vaves ana* ** 
ie one bqing used in the book and the one being used 
>ok, naturally, was the one T wanted,. Furthermore, 
ition from Die x imes, referredtxtq in the text 


.HOilJDOiHWNI O' Hub 




t 


From the FR ANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS* #f1~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


- : ; ■ 


1C120 


10121 




4 


, 




is vacationing a bit while the ladies are concentrated en 
the hurricane-tossed East coast * 

In viewof the fact that I haven't heard a peep out 
of the Evanses since their dinner party during the summer, 

I was mildly amused today when one of their oi ;er- 
seers on LittleEva telephoned me today to say that they had 
'phoned from.. Houston, asking him to get £n ijouch with 
t me to give them a gourd for their Uncle omc cabin. I 

sent a message to them through their factor,- saying I should ' 
be delighted to give them all the gourds they wanted but I did 
not have any dipper gourd that was cured since this 
year'8 crop was just beginning to cure and would 
not be dry enough to carve up into a dipper until 
later in the year. It is true that I do have a dipper 
gourd at Ghana , dating from last year, but I'm certainly 
not going to divest Ghana of anything to embellish 
the cabin of Uncle Tom Sterling. It's odd 

howrt$verything connected*with the Sterling Evans neighborliness 
-seems doomed to failure, even down to a dipper gourd. Ihat 
they didn t communicate directly with me is understandable 
enough, since they never have apologised for standing me up on 
the Sabbath, after asking me to round ;up some cabins 
and capable workmen for they. In spite of their charming 
personalities, it must be they still labor under the illusion 
that anything can be bought if one ,has plenty of money and if 
one has plenty of money, one doesn tihave to bother about 
such things as keeping apointmentst etc., etc. 


63 i 9 




g I oZn^t 
Paffmnd duani 


t>\ 3". 




« i 


8b 


M» 


Ct>: 


rfmembmJL.if I mentionedi>in last night s memo that 
Bafjdmd JudKita came dowt en Wednesday afternoon, bringing 
their daughter with them... I never saw a child 
look so tiny as did aine when plaoed s» in the middle 
of the big, four, poster, here in my boudoir. Somehow 
the bed didn t seem to expand so much in size as did 
the baby seem to oontraot. I do believe it is a very 
tiny baby anyway and, after all, neither ff her*parents are 
very latge. I got the impression that she is a very 
sweet child and she must be going to have a soft 
voice like her mama since her wail for a bottle seemed 
wonderfully su dued in contrast to the bawling of the 
Wenk children,as * recall, when they were her size. 


lBI 


;TV T\ V 2«0 H.O * t Hi $1 ■ !• - CH »'8n). 

y i V V.iy; v Friday, Oorober 2nd, 1959. 

\o t^oi- cAts ni *oa*to Iiiiae o b«uo\ ‘-'dA --.sAt : 3 r . e. 

>98 baA x;s:ti 9 13 m '-e t.-LIiq 

. . •» 


: v ■ e;aoie 

Memorandum .? 


ic so-.an. 


1 '^Holo WCTVO 




19 30 



s >: Ii>98 i;.D o b« 

, ; 00 

Another day of full summer;* What a lucky couple 
weeks the cotton harvesters have had. Every day we 
e threatened rain but every-day somebody else gets it. 

Up .b9*9br.i *ei Si S: i\i \ 3A3 - ^ftitqsooc 
I should have laboured harder than I did today but 
interruptions and one thing and another prevented me from getting 
very far andj as Friday night is frolic night for secretaries, 

I just got started on a letter, --#ne from dames. —when 
an interruption knocked out the perusal and I never did get 
b a ok the secretary. I go, as far as the 
first paragraph and I believe there were com addresses 
I wanted in the balanoe, J may get an early secretary in 
the morning, and if so, d shall enclose, what struck me 
at the beginning of the letter, to wit, that Kay returned 
onSurtday exhausted, that an effort, was made to revive 
her when jean O'Brien called from New Orleans .totalk 
with her and give her a K ; blow-by-blow account of the 
harleston hurricane, knowing full well what such 
news wpuld 4o to her already jangled serves. I don't 
blame dames for being proucked. 




4 IT. 3i 7 


u:3 »'S4b 3IIC 


>S39-U\X9 



I can't remember if d reported my yesterday adventure 
or near adventure on the sundial in the white garden, 

I shoL 1 run the risk of. repetition. ;I noticed the 
arrow had been .edged around by the wind so that it was 
much off cour 80 .. I. got a ladder, and climbed up on top 
o/the white pillar, reached up to adjust the arrow when 
Andy, who chauoed. to be passing and standing below, 
denly shouted t "dump". ' ttr* 

sojisA o sritiv ®v sos". s Ac Am Hi \fl 

I tepk him at his word and jumped, not bothering 
ke use of the ladder. On straightening up,~I r.a 

o 89 BU 0 A 0' 3 ts r-A I cz'xt *i\t '.jd Li- 01 

Liioi ii toA3 yiA^utn oAa oe \\u‘.a \o 3ol c v 
•.\o b«i\ I 9*to\9'i 



Forgive such a dull communication , 


$ 










From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS, fM-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 








10122 




t 


i 

’ our 

\W 

ia^uet 


lost no time in moving in hia direction away from the sun dial, 
far swarmming „bout the arrow were hundreds of little 
black bees, infamous for their powerful stingers. We 
discovered they had found a small crack in the top of 
the pillar sometime during the summer and had set up 
juite an empire inside the hollow column, I shall 
,e a ve the arrow along until cold weather slows down 
the bees and loan seal their entrance and exit so I 
can work undisturbed, _ 

On the home front, there is evidenoe that the 
rodents are paying no attention to the presence of 
deep swmerweather and, with on eye on the oalendai 
accepting the fact that it is, indeeed, autumn, andl 
are moving indoors regardless, I set out a fine bai 
of D-oon for them a week or two ago and they have partaken 
with suoh gusto that some of them haven'-t been able to 
stagger very far oirtside the house in search ofwater so 
that I, for my part, have to searoh them out to give 
them some sort of a funeral. At least one of these 
has eluded me and I assume he must have expired 
in the walls, I hold the thought he may evaporate before 
next week end, i-- ■ ' * : 

I was delighted to hear a symposium on Man’s 
future, I believe it was a transcription from a meeting 
held on Tuesday at the Waldorf, Hilton Eisenhower 
ocoupied the chair and among the■ participants were 
Bertrand fiussel, Julien Huxley, Ashley Montagu, Robert 
Frost and quite a few more • he profundities 
expressed makes one wish such programs migh be re~ 
broadcast a second time,'hard on the heels of the initial 
, Ks v-.'.■ i o ' 

I suppose we may or may not have special do ings 
aoro88 the fence at Sunday dinner by wcty-of celebrating 
Madam Regard’s and J, H,'s birthday 'This, perhaps, t will 
depend on how the hostess feels for she really haan t time 
for anything much at the moment accept dashing and 

feeling sorry for herself for having . to prepare 
of rooms in which to receive piglrims a week hence, 

I’m not doing much chasing and so I can’t find onj 
excuse for feeling sorry for myself but I probabl 
will by the time I have rigged up a few houses ai 
put away a lot of stuff so thoroughly that it will 
year again before I find most of it,,,smile,,,,,, 


10123 


/SUM 


Sunday, October 4th, 1959, 




KU 


one, 


8 * 9> l 


$ 

9 MOrt 




5)6 


3 i M 

K- 


star 



:) M boo^ s 11 ' I 

Memorandum: 

•v -ii) £u*V>l ■'W v)*TO()i' ‘ Jti'AooX. 96 liu-'C y 

S The thermometer remains in the 90's and what with 
a shower around neon, the humidity is about at the saturation 
point. Some place north of San Antonio got 15 inches of 
rain last night so * guess we were lucky with our little 
old sprinkle, I was sorry the wind was so strong for it 
wrecked a flock of butterfly lilies that would have 
looked pretty, had they remained standing next week end but 
perhaps we shall get our 15 inches of rain next week end so that 
everyone will be so busy hopping puddles, they wont have 
time to observe the flora, 

Lv 0 i— . 0 fri L-'b 1 ;u! ' 

The enclosure from Aunt Willie in Satu day 
morning's envelope certainly ended abruptly, I 
gather she must have forgot to enclose the last page so 
that one might hav attributed dire doings by the way it 
broke off, had not the Wednesday telegram reported that all 
was well, following the hurricane, 

• • . • loa T» no ft* 

We dined on fine fare aoross the fence today, what with both 
birthdays being oelebrated at a single board. When it 
oame time,fordessert, there was quite a ohoice. The oake whioh 
Madam Millspaugh had delivered this morning looked grand but 
I ctyose peaoe pie with a d a b of ioe cream on it, and 
was perfectly satisfied that^I couldn t have made 
amors dels.otable selection, There was 
so much bussing going on, 1 soaroely got a chance to 
congratulate Madam Regard on her anniversary. Her daughter's 
, spirits seem radically changed for the more gay side and 
I learned she is planning a party for Saturday night, 
t j .inviting all hostesses and.many town people for post touting 
drinks, rainbow snadwiches. and Heaven knows what all, 
ai remarked that 1 .was going to dine that night at 
c,- a the C hurch of fbe Children of Strangers and 1 shall bo 

lucky if I don t enoounter ^the whole party there 
5) I .9; 9itt t&oo iii on&oin /tiliiwe stausc 

;v oi',9 93 ...’.3 1 -uO 9 He 6 8 - t 319' 3 4 V-' 


\\ 


J.) 


oqc; 


— a . o .-.3 or. 






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University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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r.sfPi. 


10124 




10125 






■\,U C.'- ■*!' Vi ' 

sii ir i i 


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irucS 


oJ no 


e'li 


Monday, October 5th, 1959, 


about the time 1 get to going good on ohioken gumbo, 

: »u/< 

I shall be looking forward with pleasure to 
meeting Margaret Avery Single of Fiddler's Green, Avery 
Island, Somebody some timed must have recommended her highly 
for I have never met the lady but have a feeling she is 
quality , sc- ; n 

I found Miss Demon's letter altogether exhilerating 
in the j y it expresses of her prospect at getting bach home to 
Briarwoed, I held the thought 

Briarwood may be^ 'heading in for a prolonged spell 
of fine weather so that her home-oomtng may be blesssed 
with every delight out of doors, —tt will mean 
so much to Carrie to be able to roaip her native heath 
once more, ^ " 

ft&.cioi.ft ofr froyvA, 1 . • suw 
I had rather expeoted Blythe might pass this way this 
week end but she is perhaps all tangled up in politics, 
what with.her son, Ed, running for,State representative. They 
say he is appearing frequently on T7 political broadcasts these 
days and, although she claims she dislikes such doings, I 
can imagine Blythe might well be having lots of fun beating 
a drum for her favorite candidate, The last 
time I saw herf'she threatened to bring a flock of stuff for 
Pilgrimage, — gourd dolls and what not, and 1 have no 
doubt she will, —just about SminuteS before 
the opening gun is fined, I shall make 

mind but if they j rrive at the 


Bft' 


<?.*' 1 


t 


* *<s; 

^ v * • » V ■ 

A-cot. ‘to’ 

. 


preparations without them in 
. last minute, 1 shall incorporate them, I am 

doing the same thing about &hanat$so far as I, Sompayrao 

a r: , l i . . j J ~ J T t ili< aako if- nlfinh-h- T f ft hi 


ab 


Williard is concerned * If she makes tt, alright, If she 
doesn t, alright, She called me thts morning, saying 
she wSs giving Kay-and J ames a buss to come up to be her house 
guests for, the Pilgrimage, I cannot imagine 
anything more inconvenient than having people present whom 
one wants to see, when bogged down with billions of 
people swirling around all over the place, I believe the 
Registers, at least one of them, has sense enough to 
imagine such a thing, — I hope, 


ev*> 


.lc< 




: 1 C >: o • Loot'! 

Memorandumt 


8 r» 


ft's 




This is the ooolest evening we have had, — 
about 69, following a day of opuds and occasional 
sprinkles. The dampness was helpful to my side of 
thefenoe since it provided me with a helper to 
have a go at trash brown down by yesterday s high breeze, 

. ‘ A ! " ' * 

My 'phone rang at 6 this morning, —the 
Rocket calling from Mew Orleans, She wondered if I 
knew Senator Friedman, Chairman o the newTourism 
Committee in BatonRouge, I confessed I did, indeed, 
know him. She hoped I pould say a word in her behalf 
bout some tourism films, I will. 

She said she had talked with Warren, He wants 
to convert the color films into J)laok and white, —the 
ones she took a Sunday or two ago and wants another 
shot in oolor of the outside of Ghana for a cover picture, 

With the flowers played out, the leaves of the pecanes in the 
background gone, I oannot imagine anything of a 
colorful nature available at the moment but 
perhaps T can round up some small ohildrjin feeding 
Emmet and Erwin or some such, 

»iS he M ocket suggested we achieve this on Saturday 

morning, I reminder her the Ghana house faces west and that 
a west shot was inevitable. She suggested making 
the shot in the afternoon, I asked her what she suggested 
doing with the Saturday afternoon, pilgrims. They 
had slipped her pind, She asked about a November 
or early December shot, I suggested Warr^joeuld have 
forgotten or,lost enthusiasm by then. The thing ended up 
. by agreement to hold a Saturday morning conference, —and 
on Saturday morning T shall have lots of things to do 
in preparation for the afternoon without getting too 
tangled up in conference* I assume the . . . 

. S. .tiurday visitation is oaused by need for some final hoop skirt 
shots for the local film, T shall dolmy best to get 
a <+hana likeness with figures in it during the 








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• • » 


W)\ 





1C 126 





IOI27 


Tuesday, October 6th, 1&59, 


Saturday visit since visitations seem infrequent except 
at such times as something beyond leoal consideration 
is cssicing but perhaps that is pure imagination 

on my part, - • ' 


X 

."IB ' 

l.eAsA 


...» t With a helper with keen vision and a strong arm, 

I hoped to get some boards cut for th.e Ghana frieze today 
but I figured witheut considering that making 
a line to guide the saw requires something more than 
,bright eyes• I wanted to create three strips, each 16 inches 
wide, out of a board 4 feet in length, By Einsteinians 
calculation, 4 figured 4 feet constituted 48 inches and that 
three 16 in strips ought to be carved out of the 
board with neatness, &ut I was wrong for although 
at three timeent times. I had the assistance of 
three different people, all with bright eyes and at 
least 8 of them claiming to be able to read numbers, but 
each one found the 16 inche point on a three foot ruler 
in a different place and so, instead of carrying that 
— t chore through, I let the whole thing go until 

suoh time as I can find somebody who oan count up to 1 6# 
v, And, although this next statement seem unrelated, 1 must 
remark at this poiflt that I am wondering if there is a 
atshred of truth in the J oviet ..claim that in 
a twinkling, verybody in Russia suddenly began reading 
madly, just as soon as the Revolution provided them with 
a book, I know so many people in this area who would 
really like to be able to read a little, now that they 
ha’JC reached maturity but, try as they may, theyoan never 
master it, I must say that, </ everybody among the Slavs 
could suddenly begin to read, they are a heap more 
remafkttble than many, an unlettered leoal resident of my 
a oquaintanoe, Of course, * could have got the board 
e '\ properly lined this afternoon, if 1 had cared to expend a 
little ' more time on the. process but there were lots of 
mre important things to do and we did them and the 
lines will be drawn sometime later in the week, 

J C',r.4 V a4 0 t 5'.;:*'. iiilrtfc - -r.iKnOJn - tto 

Today's in-coming mail was comparatively breif and so I shal 
do but ilittle tonight*andindulge in some early shut-eye 
her busy day on the morrow ,••••••• 




Oil 


50*.' 
bab 

— .60 




j'i; . ji'i as against another 


$ c ' 


LU 


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tsoaiia^»i ciioH 



Memorandum : . 

A lovely summer's day • •- 1 

1 hanks to yesterday's dampness, I was quite delighted this 
morning when Puny and Fug a bou put in an appearance 
to lend me a hand, to be followed two minutes later by 
Fug a bou, jr,. Frog and Olyte, 1 assigned several 

chores and e ventually went to breakfast, hen I returned, 

Fugabou said he had to go and get his hand attended to, 
a she had stuck a rilsty nail in itt I urged his immediate 
departure and went on about my business but 
stopped long enough to grab a cup of coffee across the 
fence and to relish the delight of our girl friend over 
the sweet birthday card and me ssage to her and 
to all of us from little Rise Lee, Aie card and 
message meant so much, it would have made your heart as 
glad as tt did the rest of us, had you been present. 

On my return to *ucca and to the African House and Ghana, 

I noticed no one but Puny, He said UissCeleste 
had sent for the other three helpers, I have alufays thought 
it sheer courtesy to advise a person when workers are pre¬ 
empted, Puney remained with me throughout the day. Celeste 
left to spend the afternoon in town, departing at 18 noon. 

Around 8 o'clck when passing through the big house, I 

encountered *ug n bou, jr,. Frog and Olyte fiddling 

around in the kitchen, , I a eked them if they were 

working, ■ 1 -‘hey said they were, concentrating on 

tasks assigned them upstairs by Miss Celeste, As the upstiars 

is not open on Pilgrimage, I oannot imagine wtyat they mgith have been 

assigned to do without direction. Around 4 o clock, 

I heard a radio up there broadcasting the *orld Series game. 

At supper, J, H, asked me.how>tke ,men he had sent me were 
getting along, L told him I didn t know since they had 






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10128 


Wednesday, October 7th, 19 59 


Hemorandumt 

A lovely summer's day. 

• ' 

A lovely moonlit summer's, night. 

li.io • t■ ■ •' '■ .. ■ '■ •’ - ;■ ''• 

My hope was that T might duplicate the anount 
of work accomplished yesterday but I didn t, But 
I did get quite a few things done and I am satisfied. 

j frs, Coombs brought to Madam Regard her felicitations and 
took time to drop by to see me to say Howdy and to get a bit of 
information about local characters assaulting the bastions 
of public assistance • 

Just as yesterday the postman held out on 1st class 
mail, so today be overdid it with too much and 
I got around to read none of it although I must confess 
nothing bout it looks very interesting . Perhaps 
I shall get a secretary early in the morning, perhaps not • 

Pecane people from the Experimental Station dropped 
in before noon and chatted too long • About S o clock 
when things were going at a pretty good pitoh at - 
Tuccg, furniture all turned about, freshly laundered 
draperies going up, oobioebs coming down, Blythe, 
with a .couple of ladies in her train, appeared on the gallery • 
1 didn t invite them in where they could scarcely 
h n ve found their way but rather suggested we stroll over 
to hana, bearing as we did a suit box Blythe had 
brought. It contained three dolls, two of which are 
grand.* The two a re a couple, —a colored preacher 
a nd whlfe who will be styled Vie Reverend and Mrs. 

Jesse Shore • The preacher, with a rooster in the seat of his 
p a nt8, is perhaps 2 and a half or possibly three feet in 
height, He is made of a diehrag gourd a s his main 
ingredient. His wife, as. rotund as her husband is 
akiny, has a gay' calicos dress, fapoh apron, sunbennet, 
n nd like her husband, is holding a book from which 
she obviously is singing • Their presence in Ghana 
give the thing just the sip it needed for vibfattons. The 
third doll hO’O’pare Big Bad Wolf, his legs made* of 


been sequestered early thi3 morning . H e said that Celeste had been 
in town all afternoon. I told him all I knew was that they 
had told me they had been assigned chores for the afternoon • 

He saidi Well, I'l be damned" and asked Hugene 
if he knew how the baseball score had come out • There was 
something a bout the whole business that recalled the episode 
when, prior to Pil grim a ge, all the furtiiturs upstairs 
in the big house, --not open to Pilgrims,was upholstered 
while Tucoa couldn't get a tattered sofa slip cover sewed up, 

Hift, in spite of dL 1 this beefing, I'm quite delighted with 
my day s doings and tonigh I ,was altogether delighted to 
stumble on to Invitation to C ea rning in which Schnittler's 
Anatole was taken apart . I recall having read Anatole without 
glowing mubuin the doing , There was something _ bout 
Anatole that reminded me of Michael Arlan's TheGreen Hat , 

One read it with a relish or one read it in boredom and 
I was in the latter group • It always seemed to me that Schnitzler 

was forever writing about people whom I never found interesting, _ 

the superficial bubbles that were pretty enough but not 

of sufficient composition to get me interested in 

when they might burst, fo bufst they were bound to do 

because' of their superficiality a bout everything B u t 

the Invitation discussion h a d none of the superficial quality about 

it and was thoroughly delighted, with the entire 







I 


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ftli 


1 U1 


££ 


10130 




perhaps I ran off the pagt 


The third doll is a pure Big Bad Wolf, looking exactly 

like the Disney one in the picture of the Three u ittle 

Pigs, back in the depression years. Bis legs are made 

of the insides 9 / dishrag gourds and probably his head and 

tail but I didn t get around to examine him much, 1 ohat 

with all the tdL k going .on at the time and the rush I was in 

l n ter. As we chatted at Ghana, a woman and a child appeared at 

the door with, a dog. ' The dog was the boxer and 

the woman was the lady doctor and the child was Desiree. The 

Rand contingent left shortly but the lady doctor 

lingered on. ^he wanted to talk to somebody a bout 

her domestic problems and hana is a good place for 

conversation and the boxer provided entertainment 

for the child. • 

j, L \ _ A- oi 9* C i > Olt TfS ~i : 3 h 0 )' ; 

I was glad to provide an audience and I think it 
was good for her to have one* We chatted a little a bout 
the situation across the fence. Ihe conclusion reached 
was that when 0 emotional state of a ten year old 
child persists until after the half century mprk has passed, the 
pattern has become permanent ahd is likely to remain 
so, with gradual intensification signals along 
the succeeding years As there will always be ample 
means to provide physioal comforts, life will probably 
be spun out to the end in the ten year oldaspe dt of 
everything. Self pity is the cause of most of her 
p a tients in the butterfly department and much of the self pity 
stems from a vague realisation that childhoods al though 
regained \n viewpoint, has,indpeed, passed them bye and 
since being If) years old is the only e xouse for living, 
the climate of that age will be retained, nurtured and 
imposed on everyone and everything coming into" 
contact with suoh a personality. Cultivating the climate is 
a bout the only pay L to handle such oases swop there is 
no maturity, save 4» calendar years, to maqe.-<n ything 
jslse comprehensible. It sounded like a pretty 
sound diagnosis of the case. . 

. .-v. V V. f ■ .. \U : , - e £i 4 ei-: 

Finally my visitors got under way a gain and I headed for 
Tucca toresume my labors. T^e artist was Pitting 
on the gallery, awaiting my appearance t s She, had 
some pictures she wanted me tp see .. Thus runeth out- the day 
and now I’m about to call, it a day and 
fortify myself with a little sleep as again 9 <. 
another busy dag on the morrow........ n ■ 


€ \ 


tl 't 




1 ■ 


1 

£ ' £' 


10131 


Thursday, October 8th, 1959. 


so 


v>*\ si'. \i rui' 

Memorandum: 

"• • , 

Such a lo ely summer s day — and night. 


«... 


$ 1 ; £ 1 19 c 




.Hi 

i 

Q £ 
i u« Hr o-: 


y some miracle of legerdemain, —I love that word, — 

I succeeded in accomplishing, but nothing. Fortunately Friday 
intervenes before Saturday and perhaps I shall be 

less shame-faced^about my slovenliness tomorrow hight at this time—I 

. t 

My morning was busy-bu$y, spelled with a d, and my afternoon was 
taken up mostly as was yesterday's, —women. • 

■ - V * .VO.- t .9 -••• 

Ttielma called me this ftoon at 1 , saying she. and John 
' had started down yesterday afternoon but had got side¬ 
tracked by some navy brass that had suddenly blown in from 
no where or Pensioola or some such, and she wondered if I could see 
her for a few minutes this fternoeon but she had 
nobody to bring with her. 1 magine. 

. v. -■ ;■ 

I toll her her greatest weakness had always been in traveling 
with toe many people and that I wished she would come down for 
once by herself. * s Ae did just that and was here by 8, bearing much 
ice cream, s till in my ice box, awaiting a musioale 

by myself later tonight on the back gallery. There was a lso some fru 
a bottle of wine, some marvelous home made oheese wafers and gobs of 
literature. Like the unopened ice cream, the 

wine also graoes the ice box. and the fruit is along side and the 
liixx literature someplace against post pilgrimage 
examination. As for the chees things, they are gracing my desk, and 
reaoh over and sample one every now and then. 

.91-nooin ' S- • ^ n 

' Thelma had seen Ghana in the Spring‘*e)hen- Charles v ufour 
was here. We went over to take a second look and she 
was entrancsed and I really believe she was. w e talked 
a mile a minute and I finished a coke before she got started. Then 
she suggested running down to see UncleTem s cabin and I agreeed. 

. 0 -,..... fri-o uni at eii's jTiu as^icY. 

• nii.'.v. .t-' i ••• £ , 













From the FRANCOIS HlGNON PAPERS, #fj~5889 

University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRI 


1C133 


Friday, October 9th% 1959 


Memorandum 

I c 

Another lovely summer a day and the forecast for the 
week end, through Monday,-is fair opd cool, 

I saw my neighborb across the fonoe too often today for 
the ten year youngster characteristics seem to grow or, perhaps, 

I become more impatient.and so they nettle me more readily, 

Dr, Alban, one of the pecane men from theExperimontal 
Station was here for coffee, I had seen his hostess a few moments 
before and she was petulant enough, She was all sweetness and 
light by the time the coffee got going, however, and seemed 
happy he had brought a n issue of the ^hristiaSoienoe• 

Monitor, —the September 85 issue, I believe, It had an 
a rtiole in it a bout Melrose by someone named Lindsay and 
I was referred to as "presiding" over ifelrose which oertainly 
coujd have enchanted no one present, 

■V*.»i' iU- '.-liiloi .:aK ■ 5 1 -:' ho-.... »i.u o * ->**. 

But while speaking of the newspaper, let me refer to 
Scribner's for April, I believe, of 1988, which has 
an article in it called "Caie River c haraoters or s ome suoh, and 
has some sketches, both sketches and articles being by 
Bill Spratliug, I believe, Madame Aubert Rooque is 
cjnong those present, I suppose I have this article somewhere 
and'a friend has just loned me one but I shall not get to 
read it for a week or so, I mention it, however, in oase 
you should ever chance across the issue, thtnking it might 
be of interest, > 

ill' .,(5 B. • 9*\ -V oi !■ * 

Ola J tae s'phoned this morning, saying the Calico book 
would be ready sometime tonight and that she would be 
passing this way with it tomorrow noon. If she gets here 
at noon altd the Pilvimage gets under way at 8, she 
will have Indeed met the deadline but I shudder at the 
thought oj things the proof reader, if any, didn t oatoh, 

Ac the pTil will depdrt around 10, I ahaL 1 not be a ble to 
get a'Copy off to you before Monday, 


I took one look at it and was reminded of Lyle's response to 
Miss Cammie when she once asked him if he thought he could do 
anything to the place J, H, and Celeste call home, by 
way of making anything out of it, Lyle replied : 

. -- 

"Certainly I could make something out of it if 
you would just let me start off by burning the thing down. After tha 
I could really begini,,,,," 

.. \ «, is ■ . ■ a? ' vsvjc 

,1 found one feature of interest, —wooden hinges on 
the front and b a ck door, held together with a wooden peg. As 
for t^e oabin it is gaunt, unimpressive and crude. It has a steep 
roofthe length of the building and nothingby way of a roof at 
the ends, —just straight up wall from ground to peak of 
roof, Ihe building itself is built slap on the ground, the lowest 
beam or slab of aiding right on the ground. It has no floor, bust 
the same ground inside that surrounds it on the outside and a 3 the 
spot chances to be,a little lower than its surroundings, there must b< 
inside the place whenever it rains. The house faces North and so the 
roof slnts north in. front and* south in back with the east and west en< 
of the building all siding and no protecting roof. As most 
our the region s rains corns from a generally westerly direction, 
the wals to the peak of the roof will always be washed by the rains, 
know not when the building was completed, perh a ps a month ago, 
did d ready all the mud between the slabs of aiding has been washed a\ 
letting daylight penetrate through the craoks and wintry blasts in 
another month or so 


There is no window in the building 
and no fireplaoe. It ougltt to qualify as quite an excellent 
example of an ante be Hum- deep freese, come hristmas, I should 

■■ ' ;• ■ ' ...j i: ■ " £■ 9 -': *'•: * 1 * - ; - 

I shuddered a littlewith ohill as I•drew my feet 
out of the earth into whioh they had settled an inch or so and 
we stepped out .into the hot afternoon sunshine, T^ e i ma asked me 
what I was grfng to say when asked'about bncle Tom s cabin, I 
said I was going to refer any questioners to ^Thelma Kyser, 

She laughed and said when she was asked, she was going to refer peopl 
to me but. sh‘e m as going to urge them to visit Uncle Tom's cabin 
before evet passing bye Ghana Now if the Evans-Wortham combination 
could only get the Hodges interests to lay out a garden, everything 
would be just perfect, Smile, 

And tomorrow is another day .. 


think 












T 


From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M“3889 _ in the Southern Historical Collection, 

University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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10135 


10134 


Sunday, October 11th, 1959 


I did quite a let of work today but shall have to 
a rise early in the morning to get ahead of the sun for 
many odds and ends cai not be attended to before the 
day the Pilgrimage irrives, —at least I don t like 
to do things too far in advance, such as converting my 
boudoir into a»nuseum, etc,, etc, t 

,1 had pplanned several things for this afternoon which I 
didn t thfnk I could accomplish and didn t, One 
reasfn was because, as inevitably, there were unexpected guests, 

'Ihe Reverend Williamson and British wife, the couple 
domiciled in 'lew Roads and of Episcopal persuasion, passed this 
way* He is alright and his wife of superior quality, and 
could even talk about Uatal and the Orange Free State , 

with interest. Perhaps she may have lived there once, I don t 
know. When a boy, the Reverend used to come herewith his 
m m a , the latter h n ving in recent years run an~-t$i$ique shop 
in Shreveport, '1heReverend told me he and his wife ohanoed 
to be in this area, having been in Shrevportt during the past 
few days because his mama had just joined Uiss Commie, 
a nd he said he was glad that she had died while on her 
way from home on? morning, en route to her shop which is 
just the way she^would have liked it* 1 

Oils !> 8'. .-JOLT: ’ V-.:. ... S .<.■ .a.' ' $ S Hi a i •(.. .. 

Hie wife wanted ijo buy a Hunter primitive and did so at a 
price which they didn t know was a give away, It was better 
that way. As we were -strolling toward the f ront gate, the Reverend 
reoalled his boyhood playing around the big oak that wasn t 
so big and reoallyd one of the mulatto characters ° 

a t the time a» being Coo-ooo Charlie, I thought 
that apleasant coincidence sinoe he never dreamed until 
1 told him that the picture under his arm was by the 
widow of Coo-ooo Charlie, and that Clementihe Hunter had 
been Madame Coo-coo and that her first thre£ children 
by none other than,Coo-ooo, an<j that I believe i J J ‘*‘ — 
had all lived up to their papa e name, s* 

•is 1 * v. ' -i :»iti tViov.’-: s..'i >». M 

, Wasn t it^good to t see a letter from Miss-, 
post, I 8m bound to write her tonight. La Sto 


Memorandum : 

• • ' 

Lovely Pilgrimage weather, a little warm 
but no clouds and now Wenks, making me, for one, esceedingly 
grateful allaround, 

Melrose was .only in the afternoons only, I 
believe the tour got under way in town at 9 on 
Saturday mornii\g. My 'phone rang at 10, It 
was Ola Mae calling from Shreveport, saying she had sent 
a hundred cook books by Greyhound bus to me in llatchitoches 
a nd would it be possible for me to see that they got to 
the Old Lemee House, With everyone in town 1 knew having long 
since donned the^ir calico flounces and headed out to 
entertain pilgrims, this was [Uite an effort, but 
I succeeded, 0j a M a e said she would bring the 
ones for Melrose down, arriving here about 8, She 
Called a gain, saying she wauld make it about 4, She called 
at i\oon, saying she wouldn t make it un-til 6, —Pilgrimage 
closes at 5, —and she got here at 7*30* 

. ir of • >' "■ “> .o •’ ■•'■ 

Carolyn had arrived in the mean time • 

1 Celeste had a party, beginning a round 6, <£ guess, naturally 

I d\d not go ai\d it was -^bout 9 before 
Ola Hae,Carolyn and L were finished talking with 
Mrs • Walker who really was in no hurry to pull out as 
her family w ere allot some ball game and n# one awaited 
her return. As soon as she departed r -T -thought 1 
1 could stand a d a b of food and Ola H ae , Carolyn and I drove over 
to the C hurch Fair where we dined on the best chicken 
gumbo and meflt pie& L have ever tasted. The coffee, too was 
exceptionally good, too, ‘he girls thought the 


yesterday s 
t or must 
in her 


h a ve been a continuation of what she forgot 
l a st. Well, so much for the moment but I'll 
be b a ck on s unday night, assuming survival,. 











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1C 136 


10137 


but one never counts on them in such matters and of course they 
never put in an appearance today • 1 think Ur. Hodges was 

keeping open house and ..I have no doubt they may have assisted there 
or perhaps spent the day resting a t their motel, for they both struck 
me as being exhausted. 

Today, an hour and a quarter before the afternoon tour was to get un< 
five women, friends of Siter, and a 11 f romShreveport, persuaded 
J, H, to let them in so they could have a go at things before 
the tour started, I thought J, H . was wrong in doing so. 

The ladies were loaded with oorn but I doubt if J, H % noticed 
that. Although 1 had many other things to do, including the removal 
of my ijsu./d, 1 \ ep t the five liquored up ones more or less under control, 
but what happened to them after the •business started I know not and care 
less. I was glad to see Lutecia Bowman, among others, I was 
floored bath yesterday and today by I, S, Willard's get up. She 
appeared to be a cariouature of the Empress Eugenie in 
bustley riding h a bit. Her hat, small, had formerly be 
decoracted with a six or 8 inch scarlet ostich plume but 
during the years, she had either discarded it or added to 
the feather, so it was now a foot or perhaps a foot and a half in length 
and definitely on the moth eaten side slap in the middle 
She looked so much like Beatrice Lilly, rigged up as a take off on 
some Gay '£{0 frump that I laughed not only every time I saw her 
but every time I thought of that ridiculous get-up, H u t 
things went along merrily enough ,on Saturday and she held down 
Ghana t a everyone s delight. This afternoon, however, it was 
another- tune, —if tune can be ascribed to silence, for sometime during 
Saturday nighty she lost her voice and ceulsin t speak a bout a whisper, 

How this was a pretty kettle of fish to offer up to pilgrims, dying to 

be harangued* And so I asigned her another extra hostess to do the talkii 

while she spent most of her afternoon in front the u hana, 

gesticula ting to pilgrims, quite unpr epared for a charade in such 

a "ardi Gras costume and Ghana, already, 1 believe, 

the prime eelight, took on something quite ou * of this 

wo Id, Airing the afternoon on several occasions, -Is tolled over to 

Ghana and each time there would be camerqs going a mile a minute aid 

each time I, S, W * would engage me in animated whispers, 

pointing a long gloved finger to act out her message and I hope 

I may see one suoh candid camera shot for the combination of me in my 

natural costume .of kaki and the I, 3, W, B, Lilly creation ought to 

produce something pictorially that would rate prominence in the funny papt 

But the hour a dvances and the Sunday mail has yet to be initiated 
and so I shall fortify gself with a dab of Tender Leaf and get busy,,,,,. 


Monday, October 12th, 1959, 


fi.: b«U.: M 


Memorandum r 


,ir ’in.; c - 


t was supposed to a in but it didn't and 
tonight the moon is radiant and the thermometer about 80, 

. , 

I got off a .couple of dabs of oalico in 
this morning's post, headed for Lyme, 

The book is certainly of no importance but 
I think, in view of jail the. break-neck hurly-burly 
attached, if is remdrk q ble that it appeared at all, 

■ i *\ * ii ' 1 .‘o *■ C L ' • -- ’’' * 0 1 ‘ 'i " 

: * I should have thought, off hand, Ola Mae might have 
had more imagination that to put pictures in which I 
appear in a book under my name for one. would naturally assume 
I did th'e selecting which you know I had nothing to do 
bout, since, in view of the rush for illustrations, 

I just told the gal to go ahead and use anything in the 
ptacks she must have of this region, what with all 
of Carolyp' s collection and those supplied by the Calioo 
Ladies for the El Camino Beal business # 

> There is a laugh in one of the other illustrations 
she selected, —'that of Beth standing in front of Beaufort, 

Beth is always making strax ge noiees about anything and 
of late she has been complaining that oalioo isn t fine 
enough for hostesses and that she for one would always 
t wear galio not at all but forever taffeta* And so, 
thanks to Ola Mae's sugg selection, the only bag in 
the whole bunch who opposes calico turns out to be the only 
one getting her likeness in the calioo bosk 
itself. Smile m ^ 

, : ,... BTS) ■ ' 

When a dropped the out-gotng mail at the office, — 
at first T thought thjs night be atholiday and no mail, what 
with good old Christopher being on the calendar, —but I was wrong, 
a nd so when I passed by the post office, the olerk asked me 
if the car parked betide the store was that of Ola Mae, 

I then recalled that there was some talk on Saturday about 
le a uing it and proceeding to Many in Carolyns, 

.1 -o? 

As T was leaving the big house this noon, I encountered 

ot oib© oAt mwo fr'toavx 

U 4 bob'. 1 9^3 .0 X 0 ^ ' e 

AllyO • .10* .1 \839t' 6 8 9™“ »«> 







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10138 


10139 


Tuesday, October lZth, 59 


the girls in the garden, 2 hey had just arrived and were here 
ttpLick up the car, There was some long rigamarole about 
Carolyn'8 oar breaking down yesterday but I didn't ppy 
much attention to the details, taking the explanation 
a courteous but unnecessary exouse, 

. ;..i to t tr, ' s' _.ni i & ■ i - 

Carolyn and Ola Mae headed out half an hour later, 

Carolyn said she was going to Hodges ardens, Ola Mae to 
Shreveport, Probably so, Well, a yway, Carolyn said she had 
t» scoot down to Hew Orleans and Would stop: off here on her 
way to get one color shot of the Ghana interior, I told her 
that would be fjne and that if I dtdn t see her on the morrow, our 
paths might cross next week or next month or next year and that 
would be fine, v e both laughed at that one, each knowing 
exaotly the wisdom in such calculation • 

. lU.’t > 4 t 90«i 3 t J' 

I took the opportunity to set forth my thoughts on 
a n Uncle T om's Cabin Cook Book and 0i a M a e liked it, I 
shall probably begin on the text forthwith, F should 
like to have pome thing to do about the selection of the illustra¬ 
tions for this opus, I know the cabin isn t photogenic 
but it will have ,to be in, 1 reckon, and St,Simon's Church 
with the Wortham s in the foreground^- ck picture already 
available fromCarolyn's collection, I- reckon the cotton 
stenoil ought to go in and 1 suppose we might squeeze in 
the artist as the most famous descendant of Uncle Tom's 
apsociates, on Hidden Hill where Miss Hunter was born, 
i V; :.js t j; j.roist .-A.sic s' - 10 os s ' 

I shall begin busying myself forthwith for some suitable 
recipes and I might knock off quite a long introduction so 
the tourist and souvenir collector may get . . 
a little history of the controversyf^kgving them 
or him up in the air as to whether the K '\scal Parish 
legend has any basis for being, ■> •' J < 

— . ’>i\i ho "Hi sv 


Memorandum : 


A very hot, sultry morping, a very^ cool, rainy 
afternoon, ^he Calico Ladies were certainly lucky they 
didn't have a Sunday afternoon like the uesday following, 

Emmet Rocque, aprominent planter on the river, 
and some kin to Madame Aubin Hocwue, was buried this 
morning from the c Kurch across the way, I did not see Celeste, 
that is, at coffee, as she was attending the funeral. Her 
Madam and I sipped and dished, however, and h a d fun. Everything 
seems to be rosey all around, From Madam Regard, I 
learned a flock of nuns are scheduled to make a tour . 
on the morrow and so I have put off further dis- 
m a ntjing of the several decorative schemes, hot already taken 
down. 


While F think of it, I must report that I learned 
from Celeste one day last week that she is.about to 
take up golf. It takes.up time, it seems, and when 
she hasn t anything to do, she feels it will be such a 
source of occupational enjoyment. Smile, 

Of course Carolyn didn't show up. Frankly, I didn't 
expect her, 

I w a 8 busy enough getting stuff in the mail today and 
welcomed the opportunity to do more desk work when it « 
began raining this afternoon, I have in mind sending the oalioo 
number to several of my friends on newspapers around the Pelican 
n nd the Lone Star States and a rainy-day is just made for 
suoh business t it ^seemed'to me, 

I was quite taken abaok when Charles Cunningham called 
me this morning tq sqy he had just received the book I had 
sent him and l. wanted a few particulars to include in the notice 
he will give the thing in this week's Hatchitoches Times, I 
s,o seldom hear his voice, 1 did not recognise it when he 
began speaking. Somehow -£ thought it was ene Watson at the college 
library and F talked along Just as though I knew the 


ofreiTtV-l bro iplojj . 

I am beginning to get things straightened 
up a little, the one "iver Qobelini rolled’"Upsafe from dust and d 
but, of oourse, I haven't discovered as^i/et any of the 
do sen unfinished bits of business that went hiding 

during the tour, 

1 t ■, : .fc ;b ' i. • bi o.A J 0 

Tonight s tour report over the r adio described it as the 
most successful of any of the five proceeding ones, I am 
glad the ladies were so successful, A town bank President, Ed, 








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10140 


SMPJ 


10141 


* 

..... rei • - ’f* V 

identity of the speaker, trying to think how it was I could 
h a ve sent a copy to the college when Thelma had already called me 
to say she had purchased several copies for herself, Finally 
I did remember having sent Charles a copy and then everything 
came back into focus • 

This cook book, by the-.way, is going-into several drug 
stores in Natchitoches and it will be interesting- to see if the 
sales show greater volume, as they undoubtedly will, if 
the retail distribution is greater, 

" ! Is* - • . •• 

Ann Williams Brittain oalled me during the afternoon to say she 
. ..liked the book which, had been oalled toner attention by 
a couple of ladies at different times, ladies who had been 
entranced to see their names in the list of members of the 
Association, and who had purchased books on the strength of 
vanity, 

T heard.a schedule for pblitioal speeches in the weeks 
ahead on today's.news broadcast from the local station, 

T believe it is November 4th, or whenever the first Sunday 

comes in November, that all aspirants to Parish offices and 

henchmen of the Gubernatorial candidates will attend the 

box supper at St, Augustin 8 Churoh of lie ^revelle, Somebody 

a sked me if I didu't want tq attend, I replied in the 

negative but said I should like a report on what the 

representative of,the race bigot. Senator Willie Rainach, 

would have to say to an audicence made up of mulatto 

voters, It.strikes me that al the politicians will 

h a ve dto do some fancy foot work in such a gathering if 

they succeed in stepping on nobody's toes While 

we were having Gumbo at the c huroh last Saturday night, 

a gentleman oame to our table and presented each of us with 

the attaohed card, He took us -for nulattoes, said he 

was running forSheriff and w a s against sin and in f a vor of the 

sanoity of the home, —a strange statement to make in such a place, 

it seemed to me. I forget the man's name. Wester, or some such, 

who hails from a hill billy s ection around Provenoal, and 

is a bag of the first water. He was one of the two people, 

I understand, who were fired from R, E. A, during the 
recent turnover because of his outrageous doings 

*ssj«-: o . it>; a’.V. aide a Ac r . 

An hour intervenes as between »■this line and the above, 

Beth called and talked and talked~~all about .Cloutier and 
Prudhomme geneology and grandeur, I gather the hasn t seen 
the Calico Cook Book,,,,, ' 


Wednesday, October 14th, 1 59. 


Memorandum: 

■■•e .is.'. •*©*»»> v • a - -•«•.> . a 

Cloudy and "air-ish", following last evening's 
rain of a little over a couple of inohes, t will 
be about 50 toniight and today's 60 seemed quite 
frigid after Sunday's 90, . 

it - - . •• '■ 

The ground needed the^ratn, however, and it didn't 
harm the cotton much, a bout half the orop having 
been gathered. 

• T, for one, welcomed the dampness keeping workmen 
out of the field for it g n ve me an opportunity to grab 
a couple of carpenters this afternoon so that we could begin 
cutting beards for the Ghana frieze, I'm thinking of 
a frieze for the b a ck gallery of Tucca, too, should there 
be enough materials and I think there are. ut I shall 
give thought seriously.to Tucca after the^hana business has 
been achieved, K 

' s ; •> ■: *»••• 

Another blessing in last night's rain that 
was accompanied by a few twisters, appeared in the form 
of a profound silence in telephonic instrumentsA big* 
old cottonwood tree, hard by the bridge was toppled, 
falling into the river and carrying the wires serving 
this area. Some unusual difficulty is involved in making 
the repairs, — a special truck having to come from 
Alexandria to accomplish the business. The net 
result is that since just after my tiresome talk with 
laBeaufort last ^night, the bell hasn't tinkled once . 
and I must say it's a pleasure to be able to take a 
Pass at this machine without numerous interruptions. 

i t 

Sunshine and shadow appeared strikingly today in Celeste's 
deportment this morning and this afternoon. At the 
coffee hour this morning, she leaped from her chair, 
rushing across the room to Madam Regard who was stirring 
a spoonful of sugar in her orange juice, demanding of her 
Mother what in the world was the matter, asking her if 

tV : ;;' *4 ecut 1 . ■ Ore'.-i, ' .e* ' ' 

...... •. « . .i o *. ■ • 





I 


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r r jj>i 


10142 


L 


.sLba 


:. t.. . " 

she u> anted her to stir the juice for her, should she be incapable 
of doing so for herself and complaining that the sound of 
the spoon moving,in the glass was driving her crazy, 

As always, Madam Regard lotted before the flurry and put doum 
her sppon, But this afternoon, when Celeste had 
got rigged up in her Pilgrimage gown, she was all sweetness 
and'charm when a priest of two, a bevy of nuns and 
a segment of mulatto aristocracy cam$ to make a little 
tour which Celeste conducted as far as the big house 
a nd then playfully withdrew, explaining she had to 
rush down to Magnolia to show her costume.to Miss $ally, 

<Sv‘ o* v- iitri'iwoo r.j- an a- • "to",. '• . v i • 

I did what I could to make my part of the tour interesting 
although I be^grudged,the time which I should have preferred to 
spend inspiring th$ carpenters, I think there was one 
of the half dozen or so nuns who got something out of the 
tour and at least one mulatto lady, Lie most tourists 
anywhere in the world, the balance of the delegation simply wanted to 
see and chatter, making it easy for the guide but not 
very profitable, 1 should think, for the tourist. The point 
was demonstrated so clearly just after we left the Yucca living 
room where we had been assembled for perhaps 80 minutes and 
were qpproaching the African House, when one of the ladies 
asked me if they were going to be permitted to 
see the portrait of Qrandpere Augustin and the other 
family portraits, I didn't have to think up t 

an answer because another of the ladies a **«d the speaker what she 
thought she had been losing atin the drawing room she had just 
left. Obviously the'bag had been so busy, looking at 
everything and seeing nothing and paying no attention 
to the somewhat protracted discussion of points about 
the portrait, and all the wliilechattering so that, so 
far as she, for one, was concerned, the investment of time 
and energy was .pretty much a total loss, 

.n • . i-. ,'V r.. o . . . i'3 -mo.; s'. 

It was nice to hear from Edith Wyatt Moore, I wonder 
what's Miss Myra‘s ailment for the Moore letter certainly 
gives the impression Miss Myra's future is doomed, 

The telephone just tinkled, I must be in touch with 
the outside world once more,,,,,. 


10143 


IDl'I 


Thursday, October 15th, 1959, 


i on 


9 >U 4 t 


. I 

■io'Uf - OU 


in, 


■ 4" 




Memorandum 

K • • «. 

Clear and cool, sort of 40-ish tonight with 
a promise of 85 for the morrow, 

~ t . 

Today 8 post w a s grand but I^only read a couple 
of letters, the one-from Lyme delighting me no end and 
whetting my curiosity no end as to what q future post 
may be bringing via 5th Avenue and 54th Street, H, E, 

I laughed when reference was made to something that 
one might start taking apart at the bottom, reminding me, 
os it did, of the Christmas present I once received that 
was liquid shaving soap in a fanoy bottle,- the 
top of which I squinted at and fiddled with until I 
hit on some magical coil that shot me in the eye with 
the darned liquid soap, —sort of Christmas cheer 
and a shot in the eye in one single gesture. When I begin 
exploring what some uture post may brtnfi, I assure you 
I shall close both eyes tight before I btgin taking 
it apirt% much op predate all you had to tell about the 
exhibition about whioh 1, of course, had heard nothing,. 

The portable bathtub does seem like carrying the details 
in the direction of the ultimate. It reminded me the 
announcer, on a dare, mentioned over the adio last week 
that the Christmas festij/p* committee was casting -about 
for a portable latrine, suggesting anyone knowing of 
such a convenience call the Chamber of Commeroe. I >■ 
called to report having known of the ambulating 
variety having been in use in.the Briarwood area some 
years ago when Miss Leudivine, spending a week end there, 
was forever getting lost, due to the constant changing „bout 
of the situation of the thing from one bosquet to another, d 
I find myself if the portable bath may have been more 
a mbulatory than portable. Smile, 

T\anks, too, for speaking of the Bolan affair, I dtdn 
not know that Senator Bridges had been aotive in making 

tnd eitoitrae son. r el 1 /»«.'n\ T’&nw 

baAil bo &4Lno4 Lt> o* tti nc\ 

1 »na- ,0B»b . aqoq .no i . iw L. . Ac *ooo o.’i 








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I 


1C 144 


strange noises in 'that direction although T am not 
surprised to learn this since he always seems to be on 
the ultra if not the ultimate Consergvative 
side, And that reminds me to say that a flock of stations 
through thi3 area, —Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana 
aJid so on are putting programs on the air over major 
net work stations, o viously sponsored by the ex- 
McCarthy boys, Hunt Oil interests are given a8: 
sponsors and, if I recall correctly, H, L, Hunt, 
the Texas millionaire, was a heavy contributor to the 
McCarthy fandango, The thing is called Life Line and 
somehow mixes up religion with rugged individualism, - 
an odd set of companions, it must be admitted, with 
an overall gloss of patriotism and die-hard t ^ 
Republicanism, 

. . . • **'• " 

I am equaly indebted to you f or giving me your 
personal experience as regards the presence in your fair ci 
city of Mr, K, of the Kremlin One can but wonder a s 
to how much of an impression of a country & yone^ could get 
under such whi s -qbout security protection, 

hanks for mentioning the E, Roscoe show, 

Tonight Columbia aportion, at least, of the Person to Perso 
show, cheduled,for Sunday on which Mae Vest was to 
appear had been c&noelled on the theory Miss 
Wests pre3enoe might be misunderstood, MisS 
West, at the same time, was described as being amazed 
her ^position should ever have been doubtful in any mind, 

•> fctU •-.!! ...... • ‘ 

Blythe and Joan dropped in this afternoon o»d I was 
glad to see them Blythe was in a happy frame bf t - 
mind and, 1 am glad to say, brom^tf ne some grand 
sandwiches, for I like sandwiches, especid ly of her 
make, and Qoubly so tonight since the cook somehow 
got lost somewhere at supper time, although she had appeared 
at the store an hour earlier, 1 reckon there may have been 
illness in her family as she Js always unusually dependable 

The c penters returned this morning for 8 or 3 hours 
until the heat of the sun made a return to the cotton 
patch possible, ■i'hey got .the borads for the Ghana frieze 
all cut and this afternoon before Blythe and Joan 
appeared, the artist and 1 spent some time at Ghana, owrkin 
out a cotton hoeing and harvesting design for the 
west front and I carried the three sections home 
for her to elaborate on tonight Blythe liked 
the cook book and in glancing at one page, discovered yolk 


10145 


p, s,. 

So glad you asked about the column, — 

Grandpa "arried a Strumpet, You and Ora are two of the 

best minds I know and Ora phoned to 

ask about the column, too, uy point in 

writing it was to underline the uncertainty 

that seemed to possess everyone as to how they felt 

about Mr, K, being received in this country, I 

thought that by taking a global problem and reducing it 

to family proportions, it might make the situation 

surrounding the confusion a little clearer, And so, 

by vague implication, I tried making God the 

Grandpa, father a nd Mr, Eisenhower became identical, 

his trusted adviser, a dedicated man, stood for Mr, Dulles, 

mother was Congress, uncertain but going along with 

the head of the family and the strumpet, of oourse, 

was Mr, K, The chair that collapsed under the 

strumpet was the elevator that got stalled between 

floors at the Waldorf, as suggested by the sub-title, and the 

departure of the strumpet being timed to co-incide with the depirturt 

Mr, K,, I'll see if I an find some of the letters coming to 

h a nd, re-acting to this column. They seem to suggest that 

ordinary minds of the distinctly 2nd rate type, got the 

point I was trying to make whereas the best minds took 

the thing to be autobiographical whereas it was simply political 

satire, This piece seems to be a classic example of the necessity 

for re-reading an article before letting it go to press but 

as I had no one to lend me a hand except a secretary who oould 

scarcely spell out the letters, I failed to catch 

and eliminate the cloudiness of the picture. 


P, S, Ho, ", 

I am so happy to hav your reports, written and clipped, concerni 
H, Berensen, or however that name is spelled. What a remarkable 
career was his and how much I should like to visit his villa somedav 
with little Miss 









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10146 


run 


Friday, October 16th, 1959 • 


Memorandum : 


A lovely cool Indian Summer day. 

5. -7, t i.ff ai 8 * c- • . 

Picture, if you can, my delight when the postman 
id me a Dackaae from Lvme and I could scurry home 


handed me a package from Lyme and 
to dive into it • 


, 

The kiosk is the most delightful souvenir of 
a thousand yesterday's and the promise of a thousand more in the 
future that could possibly have come my way • It is 
so cleverly conceived and executed that, although in miniature, 
it has ample power to bring back memories of a thousand streets, 
a thousand circumstances of procuring newspapers and magaaines, 
a thousand varying scenes of light and shade that by one mere glance 
it brings back a whole segement of childhood and youth to make 
each glance at it a whole panorama of happiness, 
long since experienced and filled with the prospect of 
repeating them again and again in the years ahead • 

I have placed it on the high cabinet in the 
living room, the one occupying the place to the 
left of the door in juxtaposition to the space 

occupied by Grapidpere's protrait to the right . From that level, 

it is almost even with one's eye when standing and when sitting 

on the sofa, a little above eye level, and somehow in suoh 

a position, it seems to take on proportions rather 

larger than the actual ones so that, with just a 

little imgainaation, one can readily imagine himself 

looking down a busy Paris street where the newspaper 

kiosk beckons him to come for news in print and picture, 

to read announcements of the theatre and. the concert hall and 

thus to provide no end of pleasure in the promise that 

Heaven itself is just around the corner • 

:i ni 

can see readily enough that I must once more re¬ 
read that section of Proust wherein he speaks o himself as 
a child f threading his way to the kiosk to see in print the 
names of the theatrical personalities, the mere spelling 
out of the names providing him with so much pleasure of 
anticipation that procuring a place in the theatre and observing 
the work of the artist on the s tage seems but second best in 
contrast to what the kiosk has brought him. Little 









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10147 


10148 


Sunday, Ootober 18th „ 1989, 


Miss Dee has brought, me all this in one charming 
gift and my impending winter season is going to be the happier 
through each day because of its.presenoe under the Yucca roof. 
jhm iuoc 1 '.»• • • \i- v. ; j •• 

I fiddled with the bottom of the pieee and it 
came apart readily enough and did not, as in the 
case of the liquid soap, squirt me in the eyei But 
I was content to stop at seeing what the inside condtained ,~ 
for the moment, at least. And so the candy remains intact and 
so it will stay fqr a little while because 1 get so 
much pleasure out of Just looking at the 

composition as a whole and shall wait until later in the season 
before exploring further. 

4 ', Jv . ,r, 4 v i.: •• \.0 a - . ... t -S.L *V..: o 'U: -• 

IT le $ame mail that brought the kiosk also brought the 
order from the Department of Agriculture for scads of 


gourds to be shipped to the Beltsville Station 
and 1 reckon 1 '11 get these going sometime next week. When 
the things are on their way, I shall send barren 
the order and let him do as he pleases about a 
follow up on his earlier gourd article. The fact 
that Washington turns to Louisiaian for its 
gourds is enough buo what is more important to 
my way of thinking i„s the fact that so many i 
of the mulatto gentry up and do w*v the river and so many 
people with town house ,s are asking me for gourd seeds for 
this suggests that, ofterse many years* of absence, the 
gourd has been remembered and has now been projected 
io t a higher le vel than it ever knew before because it has 
become fashionable. Thus it will be cultivated by 
a few and sought after by the many and so the efforts to coveuert 
toe Ungly buckling, into a Swan has been 
realised and seemingly in such a brief number of years. 

-ST W btl.O •»£»!»•’. i JV-’j'i - jW'OHB SSci O 0 

More telephone calls from town a bout the Calico 
Cook Book.. Everybody seems to like it and 1 am glad v 

L (*• ,b ' •' ■ BS; 

I wrenched my knee this fternoon and cm hobbling as a result, 
i'll put a hot pad on it tonight, however, and so 

shall probably be able to swing out again by Saturday night. Smile.., 

9 i . '0 • ■ ■ " r 0 -' ; 


When 


Memorandumi 

, !) 10 • 

This week end is a duplicate of last week end except 
that it is a dab cooler. 

, :v y, ■ • 

'I continue loving my miniature kiosk which 
continues graoing the cabinet in the living room where 
I can cast an eye in its direction a dozen times 
a da V* < 

■ „s _ -J) y>. r>; • y s c .r.fc • 

t FromSaturday's post, I learn the batches Trace is to 
hold its annual meeting shortly. I am always glad that 
this organization continues to function for it seems to me 
- that it is only when the form letter of conclave, signed by 
i.ts President, is sent out, «,do D get a littler from 
Roan. 

, . . ..o 

J was sorry to learn that the husband of Alice WdL worth 
Graham has at long last gone blind. For years Alice has been 
a bout that impending, disaster and now it has arrived. I 
must paw through the New Orleans 'phone book and 
get her address so I may pen her a letter. It is 
such a pity she never bothers to answer mail. 

...j... • \ t i ■ ' ■ ’ „ ' 

. Mrs.. Walker telephoned Saturday e veiling to report 
that he /■ 10 year old son while playing on some gym 
horizontal bars, had fallen and broken his arm. She 
said he seemed to be taking it casually enough and as the 
break is midway between wrist and elbow on the 
left arm, she thinks he will give, him little 
or not trouble. She also said she is studying 
bout dojng an article fgr this week's Enterprise about 
^hana. *he always writes so entertainingly, it will 
,■ be interesting to see how she handles the subject, eeping 
in mind all the toes net to be tromped on in the doing. 

i\ S. . & .-I'U*.-. '''Si-' i ' •' 

Yesterday eleste had her tw sisters. Madam Regard 8 





From the FRANCOIS WlGNON PAPERS, #M ~5889 

University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRI 


10150 


10149 


Monday, October 19th, 1959 


sister in law and one of Madam Regard's grown granddaughters 

to spend the day. Celeste g a ve them a tour as far as the big 

house but stopped there which I t ink is proper, since 

that is all on this side of the fence falling with her 

range of interest. Along about suppee time, after her guests 

had gone, some of Cousin Josephine's folks came and 

she ventured as far as the African House with them. I 

chanced to be passing and Celeste, thinking the 

gourd dolls were at Yucoa, asked if they 

might see them. I said they were at Ghana 

and so she ventured thus far afield, realising 

for the first time that Ghana had been on the 1 oour. 

She waspolite about the dolls but as log cabins and 
African buildings do not fall within her scope 
of interest, the visit was . flat enough. 

. K 

I have written Dr. John Cox of L. S. U. who 
is some sort of a public relations num er in the Pecane 
•v , . a C ;« . A ^ .\r" 

Growers Association, sending him a copy of 

the Calico C 0 ok Book and a sking him if the Association 

would be interested in sponsoring a Pecane ^ook Book 

executed somewhat along the lines of the Calico one, including 

a list of members of the Association, prominent ( 

retailers in the pecane trade and so on, I haven t 

mentioned this to Ola Mae as yet, thinking it 

would be time enough to (lo so when I learn if the Association 

would pay thecost of production • A cook book devoted 

to a single indredient would probably have too 

limited appeal to move very fast but it might 

sell fairly well over a prolonged period if backed by 

the' Association, I should think. 

■ c. cl ■> e\jc ' a- •©*• 

So things turn this week end following the Pilgrimage. 
John Wenk was here last night. Prom what he guardedly 
reported, I gather his mama was in no physical condition to 
participate in the tour. I sent her a book by him. 

I hope i,that doesn t inspire her to acknowledge it........ 


Memorandum: 

Cludless weather but on the cool side, 
sort of 40-ish at night, 60-ish during the day. 

We are promised a return to the SO's for the morrow. 

More people are calling for gourds an<f I am 
supplying what I can. A couple of Celeste 8 friends 
want eel,her to bring them supplies for arrangements 
this afternoon and I provided same. Several letters from 
Pilgrimage visitors are asking for gourds and another 
letter today from the Beltsville, Maryland, 
station asking for more • 

"Hobody is interested in gourds", said Warren and 
I must 3ay 1 think he must have been mistaken. 

p-iq i j-.. „ M v '•'* i ' 

Hie artist telephoned me to ask me to look at 
her progress on the frieze. I had .intended to go that 
far afield yesterday but the knee I wrenched the other 
day disoouraged such exercise. Today I was all well again 
and could readily have gone into ballet training and so 
I went to see what I could see. I oouldn'.t see 
much beoause her background on the cotton sections 
is too dark but the. ooposition is alright, simple, 
gay and primitive, just as it should be. She had finished 
t a four foot section of the cotton gin that will go over 
the south portal on Ghana. $he had started the right 
section, supposedly devoted to cotton chopping, but 
she had put a wagon, piled high with fleeoey lint 
in the picture. Fortunately it stands close enough 
to the gin so it will not be dm too unseasonal • I 
should be surprised if she is painting right now at 
10 p.m., for once she gets going, she , never knows when tom s 
even when exha,u.s.tj,op. is putting a crimp in her best endeavor. 

he over darkness of the background may be a virtue when 
the frieze is in plaoe since under the eaves will be 
dark anyway and sufficient to make the combination 
3hadowy enough to make it almost fade from sight • 







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OSI^I 


10151 


10152 


Tuesday, October 80th, 1959, 


If you heard this week's Invitation to Learning, 
having to do withGorki's 3 volumes of Autobiography, 

I am sure you found it entertaining, I didn't 

catch the name of one of the participants. The 

man with the accent was perhaps a Sarah Lawrence college 

professor of literature , named something like 

Smolene,or some such, his man said two or three 

things, unintentionally injeoting a dab of hilarity, 

and I am provoked at myself for being unable to recall but 

a minor mistake he made when skeaking of Gorki 

as having performed all sorts of menial jobs, he elaborated 

by saying he even at one time was a disher wash,, 

. • a 

I never h^ve been able to get very far with Gorki 
although if .anything of his is recorded, I might h n ve another 

? o at him, just to see if my taste has changed and if 

am able to enjoy his artistry any more than formerly, As 
I remember what little I have read of his, I seem to recall so 
much about cvuelty and kindred forms of stupidity 
that bored me considerably In short, if properly presented, 
the adventures of a dish washer might interest me enough but 
never a disher wash, Smile, 

Along about first dark last night, a n automobile 
accident ocoured between the spillway and where the artist 
used to live. One of the teen age Sappe girls borrowed 
her papa'8 car to got up the road toward Bermuda to 
work for a wh^ile at the honkey tonk. Her younger 
brother put in an appearance and borrow the car and the girl 
got into another car with a boy friend from Little Eva, 

The two cars raced down the noad and on crossing the spillway, 
the Little Eva car got out of control, turned over three 
times and came to a halt standing on its four wheels 
and burning . The girl had been thrown out, her 1 legs and 
her hea,d broken. She was still aline the last I heard, 

$x.. u. r o\v. t giU ei Vtqtaft »<S 

So things go, -•• a frieze, a crash, a disher toash, and I must 
roll up my sleeves and get to work,,,,,,, 


Memorandum : 

. Cloudy and pleasantly warm in the 70's, 

It was so pleasant discovering a package of magazine clippings 
in today's post,, together with the splendid 
issue of Holiday devoted to Hew York, T\ ie post arrived 
rather later than usual and circumstances did not 
«. enable me to explore the text much although I did have 
an a opportunity to turn through the clippings to 
identify their subject matter, a ll of which I 
appreciate so much, and to look at the magazine 
illustrations, some of them so remarkably fine, especially 
the one in the article you have especially marked with 
a clip. It goes without saying that I make but 

a bad acto.r in th a play, —Patience on a Tombstone, 

but I must confess there is immeasureable pleasure in 
anticipating the thorough reading of these things 
perhaps on the morrow or the following day when I expect 

to be able to cover them with care and delight. It is 

so kind of-you ~to have provided me with so much excellent 
material and so much pleasure and I shall experience the 
same emotion all over again on the morrow when I get into 
the contents of the printed pages and the captins of 
the pictures, some of whose identities are already 
familiar in spite of their qxite new and artistic settings 
and treatments, 

r Ti 

Today's letters were numerous and all of them, with 
the exception of one, in long hand which proved too much 
for my secretary of the moment. There seems to be 
quite a lengthy one from Aunt "illie a»d one from 
Frances Ogden, I reckon the latter may be an acknowledge - 
moltf of receipt of a Claioo Cook Book, For lack of anything 
more trite to say, I simply inserted a slip of paper 
on one or two of 'the promotional books sent out and it will 
be fun to see if the two words, Happy Birthday, actually 
hits the mark I haven't the vaguest notion as to the 





Francois Mignon Papers, fH-5889 


10154 


Wednesday, October Slat, 1959 


aanes of anyone to whom I wrote such slips but if 
anybody on the receiving end has a natal day thi 3 month 
I reckon they will be surprised and enchanted. 

I think I mentioned yesterday a bit a bout the 
tVe 9 naVi°J f ^ ow l Sa PP«, injure d when on Sunday evenin 
nfny' +l 3he ? nd her bo V friend were riding tur\ 

fV spillway. he girl died last night a nd 
the funeral will probablv be this n nminn inmmlc mnd + 


Memorandumx 

A levley summer's day with the thermometer in the 80's. 

Hie gin has been humming along at a great rate this week. 
Surely the cotton was never more plentiful and seldom has the 
season been more advantageous for gathering it. 

.'V ?•>'. • v.i u-. >•' 

The Red Cross, being Carmel}, 'phoned me this noon to 
ask if I could get news to the app family that 
Dog, now in Greece, would be filing home tomorrow and 
so would reach here in time for the Sunday funeral of his 
3 ister. The message from Greece said he would arrive in 
the U. S. at Maguire Field, which is interesting to nobody in 
this area since he will probably be flown from there to ( 
Shreveport or Alexandria. Someone mentioned today that Dog s 
real name is Henokle, —Uenckle Sapp or S ap pe, and I 
must say for a Uenckle to bob up in Cane^iver seems as odd 
a s a nickname likeDog, x ' " 

u i*. ; ; * ' ' i. i' y , *• i o 0 0 . ,; ^ . ‘Ov o 

I got-the message to the family and naturally they 
were pleased to know the youth would be arriving by this week end. 

Ui.'Avf V>JU3<5 6vt-©3» 11 T'5'nOOf 

The Dark ^uke passed this way with King Solomon. 1 he 
Dark Duke had had a letter from his brother, Peter,who is in 
prison as a result of the cattle rustling matter. , The 
Dark Duke carried the letter and King Solomon read it. It 
was as prosaio as anyone might write from such an address • 

Little+King py speech and f a dal expression somehow 
• — - -* - -—» -■» J whom 


mnh+ Th l me slie worked until midnigh 
\\ 9 kt and I shouldn t be surprised if she did for 

£hV» hed + th SA rieae S° r tlle front-west-section of 
ne painted it simple enough to harmonize alright 

V *5 w,lic i dll eventually be locate 
background is too muddy a nd since the virtue of h. 

h*tT*l ll n I? - Ue A r colorin 9, I could wish she mig< 
better on this item 

o •< ' l \ S . A. 

I'm sorry to report that the boys are sufferi i 
from some sort of indisposition. I on'ref erring 
coa!. black twins who only a couple of nights ago u. 
climbing up the screen door, making a great racke ■ 
some supper but whd are now indifferent to fmed a, 
their time snuggled up to each other in a sheltert 
doing nothing all day long but sleeping. Cats,"! 
are their own best physicians and * hope these twt 
m overcoming whatever ails them, for I am very ft 
and hope to raise them to full fledamd mn+„. 


put8-one~8o much in mind of his mama, good old Zelma, 










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10156 


10155 


Thursday, October 22nd, 19 59. 


you remember, I find myself wondering how soon little 
King will be re-enlisting for my gue33 is that Army life 
will alw a ys probably offer him more than anything he is 
likely to encounter in civilian employment, He told 
me he had been surprised a while back when he bumped into his 
own name in a Cane River Memo, I was equally s urprised that 
he had ever heard of that column, let alone had ever read one, 

I reckon anyone writing for print would be utterly lost 
if he ever let himself think of the vast assortment 
of personalities that might; read it, I suppose it 
must be something like Maude Hberhdrdt trying to write a 
form letter to Miss Nellie's friends, —so many of them 
so unlike and living in such removed places, the one from 
the other. Personally, I find it so much easier to 
think of little Miss Lee and just let whatever 
there is to be said flow in one direction, leaving it 
to anyone else who oafea to with the problem of finding 
anything in it, 

* • » 

Both boys, to my surptse, are still on earth and one 
of them manifested & enough interest in food to take a 
little bite tonight but the., other remains in his.s tarvation 
diet, I hold the thought that at least one of them 
m a y not go the way of yesterday's Houston quintuplets. 

Tonight's news that the President has put the Army 
rocket business under a civilian, agency strikes me as being a move in 
the right direction but I'm already bored by all the talk 
we shall have to listen to when Congress re-assembles and the 
Army lobby lines up members to fight the merger. We know 
of at least one rocket that will escape being thus 
mprged, - smile, 

fonight's news also quotes Governor Long as saying a 
pemocratic ticket with Simington and Kennedy ought to be 
just fine, ‘^he Senator from Missouri somehow leaves 
me cold although, for all I know, he may be just fine, 

I shall continue holding the thought, however, that 
t^e former overnor of Illinois may once more* bv— r 
nominated but, like Mayor Morrison of Hew’ Orleans in the 
Louisiana Gubernatorial race, he may have too many brains 
to appeal to the electorate , It required so many unpalatable 
peopl ^ and circumstances to elect an F, D, R, and the place 
doesn t seem so cluttered up with them fust now,,,,,,,,,. 


Memorandum j 

Cloudy and humid and warm with the promise for the 
same thing on the morrow, 

I've had a busy day and I'mprepared to put 20 secretaries to 
work if I had them but would settle for one if I had 
that simple number to labor with me from how until midnight 
and now it is only 9 o'clock. 

There was quite a lot of mial and all 4jr it seemed on the 
pleasant side but most of it possessed of addresses or particulars 
that will ,rsquire it to be held against use of same or, as 
in Martin s case, against re-reading for details, 

Martin paid a bill for some pictures bought last mon$h, and 
wrote quite interestingly about the Nieman-Marcus set up 
in Dallas, { reckon you may know something a bout this store 
which, to the Southwest is a little like B, Altman, 

Lord and Taylor and R, H, M a cy may be considered to Manhattan, 

I remember.so well the first time * ever heard of the place was 
when Life or some such magazine reported the s tore had sold ten 
fur coats in a season, each priced at one hundred thousand bucks, 

Hither Mr, Hieman or Mr, Marcus is dead but the other live one 
collects paintings, ou can see where we are starting, 

• 

Hut it seems the institution does manufacturing, too, 
in the f a brio or possibly garment field, —or both, Martin 
has sold their head designer, one Volf, the same idea he sold 
Clare MoCordle, or however that lady spelled her name. He 
asks if 1r, Wolf and staff may co)se down here for a visit to get 
the feel of the region one day, inasmuch as they are 
a lready acquainted with the plantation primitives • 
on which they propose to concentrate in th eir designs for 
1961 's season. Well, so much for that proitittpt and 
may whioh ever partner'is living come alonjpmk/i fall in love 
with Hunter canvases, . 


And speaking of Miss Hunter, she delivered two thirds of 











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.01 


10157 


10158 


the frieze for the south side of G han a this afternoon, '^he subject 
is.the wedding and the thing is colorful, There's a white horse with 
small black spots as ermine is sometimes spotted but the horse 
h a s every appearance of being a painted reproduction of 
a child's Turkish towel horqik and is so angular and incredible 
it is oharming, The artist has never painted anything so perfect 
of decorating the playroom of a child or 2 or 3 and I believe when 
installed beneath the Ghana eaves, it will be as simple 
as the slabs of wliich the house is made and perhaps just as charming, 

And fpeaking of Ghana, Mrs* Walker's article, a djoining 
this week s CaneRiver Memocertainly did~turn out quite a fine 
piece of writing, as half a dozen people telephoned to report 
hours before the mail reached me this morning. Even Carmen, who 
doesn^t like Mrs, Walker, telephoned both Mrs, Walker and 
me to n say she thought it one of the finer things appearing 
in a Natchitoches newspaper in 9 long time which is faint enough 
praise butSnidic stive of Carmen 3 approval, 

'.^L. “ — 

This noon, Doreatha rounded up her tenn-ager son to give me 
a hand and he and I transported my slightly beaten up sofa from 
the Yucca living room to the upper sitting room at Melrose, 
bringing b a ck a oof a from there to take the plaoe of my old one, 

I haven t carried anything so heavy up steps in such a long time, 

I discovered the dufo to be quite an armful, Celeste says that 
neither the Eenrys nor h er friends ever use the upstairs sitting 
soju these day8 but everybody comes to Yucca and she will be 
happier thinking of them as being comfortable, Hummmmmmmmm, 

: •• t y 8 '■ •> 'ST> <• 

A letter from °ames lists a flock of BatonRouge and 
New Orleans books 3hops to whom T shall send form letters 
on the Calico item and Robina writes exclusively about 
SQvie private school that holds a b^Mk fair every year about 
thi time, T'm glad she mentioned only this matter, enabling 
me to send the letter to the Adveritisng Mart for their 
attention, since .Shreveport jails outside my province although 
I naturally cannot help wondering if such communications ever 
geli anywhere in time, Pefiiaps T had better withhold sending 
this particular one unifil Saturday so it will-be in Monday's 
Advertising Mart mail at *he beginning rather than at the end of the 
week, 

o. .. * . io... ^ - 

I dia nfifa have an opportunity to look at today's paper but 
am told thJK, Sompayrac Willard's likeness appears with a flock 
of other nfbfle on the front page, . -v 


Friday, October 23rd, lb59, 




ave an opportunity to look at today's paper but 
Sompayrac Willard's likeness appears with a fl 


on the front page, . 


flock 


Aunt Millie's letter, if I can find it, speaks for 
itself, And now I must roll up my sleeves and do some desk work .. 


Memorandum : 

. !>' " 0. U 

Pure summer and mighty pleasant all around, 

Another busy day bijt what with no long haul 
furniture moving,^I don t seem nearly so ready for 
a dab of shut-iye as I did last night at this time, 

I was surprised.to find Mrs, Coombs across the fence at 
the cof t fee hour this morning • She mentioned Mrs, 

Walker s article on Ghana which only she of the ladies 
present had redd, .She expressed eagerness to see the frieze, 
as mentioned in the article and I invited her to see the 
west and south sections, thus far cooked up, She was 
impressed by the color and simplicity and especially 
noted the varying shades of skin in the different 
figures. The groom is pure black, the bride a little 
less black, the maid of honor mulatto and one of the guests 
proceeding toward the house quite light. The preacher is 
quite dark but has quite a shock of white hair which 
is gay enough, . 

I took the opportunity to have someone who oould 
read run through Martin s letter and so was able to 
enclose it when 1 went with the mail, t 

2he artist put in an appearance just as we were 
finishing the letter but its contents were not 
referred %o, It seems a pity one cannot explain to the artist 
the interest her creations engender but one would get no 
further in trying than, for example, L got wh^n I 
showed her the full page reproduction of one of her pictures 
in Holiday and she was unhappy *'cause folks a is making 
magazines out of my picturesf . 

• 1 • * • 

WJienther any of her friends will mention to her that 
her name Ufas mentioned in Mrs, Walker's lsrticle in 
this week 3 Enterprise, I wonder just how one would 

.ft 0 I it"’ J. ,i.t -< ■ ' »•' « “ ■ - '-V;' ■“ 


_M •-!__ 







Francois Hignon Papers, #M-5889 


10160 


10159 


Sunday, October 25th, 1959 


Memorandum : 


Beautiful weather but a little on the cool side. 

J, H. and Celeste left right after dinner this noon for 
Shreveport where the State Fair opened yesterday, They 
had more than one matter to attend to, Qn Friday, Sister 
h a d telephoned J, that John Wenk wasn t behaving as 

she would have him. Is it any wonder. And so the 
Fair and the Wenk8 were both on the agenda. 

Along about 5 o 'clock tonight, J. S, Wniard 
called. She was just in fromBatonRouge and, fortunately, 
had somehow re-captured her voice • She didn't have anything 
especial to report although she did 3ay she had purchased a 
copy of this morning's Advocate before leaving baton 
Rouge and had been pleased to see that Margaret Dixon 
had given The Calioo Cook Book a favorable review, A 
I reckon James will be sending us ^a clipping shortly, 

. ill* jus ; 

Tlie artist called me quite late last night. She 
had obviously been having one or ±x two too many hot toddies 
but it was pleasant to listen to hen philosophize .and recite 
neighborhood go38ip, What she was really comp-la \ning 
about was that Saturday : night wasn't Jiondcw night for she 
is impatient to get on 'with her frieze whig* she will undoubtedly 
be on my doorstep to talk about at dawning ojk^he morrow • 

As 3he has now finished the west and south of 

the building, I think J shall s tart her off om 
the east' front in the morning, I do not, want \o use any 
of the subjeots appearing in the ; ceiling decorations inside 
hana, J think I 3hall discuss a going to ohuroh spectacle 
for the east wall although I should have preferred a 
big or at least an elongated baptisin', had she not 
already paintedone for the interior. Usually she. has 
treated going to church scenes nicely and such a subject will pro 
a fine opportunity for a long parade, or possibly 
two parades, with churches at each far corner of the building, 
and a gate in the cencer that will have one parade going 







Francois Mignon Papers, fH-3889 


10162 


10161 


I must say I was delighted that Madam Regard and 1 had 
an opportunity to sup alone together, She is always such a 
doll when attending to such little festivities and the 
fact that we had finished five minutes before the tribute 
to Mrs,Roosevelt on her diamond jubilee, gave us an opportunity 
to get the TV rigged up so we might listen to it together, I 
must say I, for one, am thankful to be a ble to send along 
something to Box 4, Hyde Park, both as a minor contribution 
to the cause and to the lady in whose honor the program was pr esented. 

It was apleasure to find a -'Jew Orleans letter inSaturday'3 
post from M a ison Blanche, ordering the new cook book, I 
suppose Baton Rouge will be ordering shortly, now that The Advocate has 
reviewed the book but it would have been better if I had 
had some orders that could be filled from that quarter 
so that the item would be on hand when tomorrow's 
requests come to hand, 

I believe it was la3t Thursday t a-week ago, that I wrote 
the publisher, saying I was needing books and invoices 
but as yet I,haven't experienced the thrill of a response. 

Perhaps tomorrow's post will bring the needed material, 

I declare I don't .understand how some businesses 

operate but I must confess that when they do, they do mighty 

well, although they cauld do even betters 


Monday, October 86th, 1959 


Memorandumi 


The calendar seemed wrong somehow today, for it 
was cloudy, as in Spring, and going to and from town, 

Celeste and, I laughed because it wa3 so hot we had to 
keep on the air conditioner, t . 

At coffee this morning, 1 got a report on the 
Shreveport go-round of yesterday, Pat and Juanita B, 
and Horace and Emily Hughes went with J, H, a nd Celeste, 

First theydrove to the Wenk mansion where everybody s eemed 
to be inthe happiest of moods and noiser than ever, Follwoing 
the coffee hour there, Sister joined the rest in going 
to the Fair, making such a racket it distrubed two or 
throe of the six other occupants greatly. At the Fair, 

Celeste put her foot down on the poposition that she go 
with the rest to view the cattle and then they would go 
with her to the fine arts building. She doesn't like 
the smell of the stables and so 6 went to cattle and 
one went to Fine Arts and that was that. 


For some reason or other, the plantation folks all seemed to 
go e very which way this week end. The Bark Duke sold all his 
household effects to a neighbor, took the money and went on a 
glprious spree in town, returning drunk on Saturday night to collect 
once more the money already paid him. Levy Williams daughter, 
put ou .of the parental home because of pregnancv, moved her 
belongings into the Bark Duke s house. The cook's daughter, 
a shy, demure child, still in her teens, be-got herself 
a baby, —her second in less than 8-years. The Bark Duke's 
18 year old njphew, son of Janie, broke up all the glassware 
in his f amiIjf home and his brother was clapped into jail because 
he insist^fjwdL king in the middle of the road and throwing traffic into 
snarls,+ ^mg, en route from Oreece by air to his sister's funeral, 
got loft ip the way and up to 9 o'clock tonight, hadn't 
been heara from. The boy who was driving the car in which 
Dog's sister got killed, attended the funeral and tried to kill 
himself and the Sheriff is combing the district, looking for 
two ladies who borke into the honkey tonk last night and 
walked off with afcouple of dozen bottles of fire ater. All 
in all, it has been quite a week end, plantation wise, 

I believe you said you had not had a pamphlet of this 
year's tour, I found one when doing some cleaning up today 
a nd enclose, And now for a dab of mail and thence to bed . 


I found the artist awaiting me on the Yucca gallery on 
my return from across the fence. We -had a delightful hour on 
the east or back elevation at Ghana, We decided a gate ajar 
with white gate posts, would be fine for the middle, just 
above the door, 1'm talking about the frieze, of course, 

A flower bed would be blooming on eaoh section 
beside the gate posts, and the road would divide there, 
one going to the left until it reached the ohurch at the end, 
-a »<\ the other to the right where a church -wouold likewise 
be located at .the extremity. All along both roads, 
people would be discovered, some on foot, some in mule frawn 
wnagona, on their way to the respective ohurches of their 
choice, I opined that the church at the left might be St, 
Mary's and the one to the right St, Augustines but the 
artist was quick to correct me for she had already envisioned 
them the other way a round, although, when painted, 1 have no 
doubt they will appear identical. But I liked to be 
set straight on that point. 






From Che FRANCOIS MiGNON Papers* M-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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ImUOJL 


10164 


10163 


Ml* 1 


Tuesday, October ifath , 1959, 


Invitation to h earning came at 8 o'clock tonight 
and an electrical distrubance with a dab of a shower, 
came at the same time so that the static made reception 
difficult. The discu ssion concerned the poems of "illiam 
Butler Yeates with whic I am but scantily acquainted, 
and although my ignorance of the subject plus the poor recpetion 
left much to be desired by way of getting much learning, still 
I enjoyed the three pannclists thoroughly and they, 
like A, Scourby,&8quire, might have been reading the 
telephone book and I still would have enjoyed it, 

I was glad to head out for town at 2:30 and 
drop my, reading machine for repairs and pick up the tape 
recorder which had been there for the same purpose, Celeste 
% had to do some shopping and I was glad to browse about for 
rubber bands, crockery and sych like before it was time 
to go on to the Lemee House where we found the Service 
League st}ll engaged in their business meeting, 'lhisgave 
me an opportunity to explore the interior of that section 
not being pressed into serivce at the moment, and I 
liked what T saw, The meeting was suspended when it wasleanred 
we had arrived and Celeste made a very pretty little p speech of 
intorduotion, referring to the speaker of the afternoon as her very 
best friend. She indulges so often in the superlative in 
reference to people, so many of her girl friends are the 
sweetest, etc,, etc,but her intentions and sincerity 
of the moment cannot be questioned, I gave the ladies a pep 
talk of 15 or 80 minutes and Jt apparantly went off alright, Wg 
1 had been advised before entering that immediately after the 
business sessi onms resumed, following my harangue, there would 
be refreshments but neither of us wanted to stay and so we flew 
on while the bags were still chattering according to Robert's Rules 
of Order, We stopped at Peoane Park on our way, —our way home,- 
st pping off to syd Hay to Juanita B, I found the house 
ranch typq in line, quil^e functional and spacious, sliding 
glass doors giving on the back, composition floors that looked 
immaculate andpublic building-ish, and the whole thing 
quite modern and nice and comfortable and Juanita d, as sweet as 
always. 

It was nearly dark when we reached home and 1 was so happy to 
climb back into my kaki clothes. There was o lot of business 
going on at the gin and although 1 went to the store thrice before 
darkness was complete, I found it closed each time and so I shalll 
have to see about today's mail on the morrow • And now to 

work ,•••••• 


Memorandum • 

Cloudy and cold, 50-ish during the day, 

40-ish scheduled for tonight, 

A perfectly delightful surprise awaited me in today's 
post, via France, via B, Altman, via Lyme came the 
saucers that were turly a surprise of the first 
order, I am delighted, Nothing in twenty years 
has been so provocative in summoning up a whole flock 
. ,o/.a thousand days spent in a thousand ways in piling up 
little mountains of just this type of saucers and every day 
n nd^every night ahead the same and undoubtedly many other 
memories associated with them although momentarily half 
forgotten will be welling up in my mind, for I 
shall be glancing in their direction dozens of times 
n day and night and each glance will set me on,the road 
through Lyme, B, Altman's and France and each time 
I glance at memory's vehiole, 1 3hall be loving today's 
surprise gifts the more and Lyme for the sending, 

And because they are such practicle gifts, -i find myself 
wondering why I never thought cf them before as objects for 
domestic use • I must confess I don't ever recall having 
seen any in department stores in Paris but I'm 
wondering why, and especially in shops -catering to the gift and 
souvenir trade ,- -For years I used the cendriers from 
Aux Galleries L a Fayette and I really missed the particular one 
of these that used to be .in my apartment at Madame de 
Pompadour's Hotel des Reservoirs which always graced my night able 
at Yucca until about a year ago when an acciddnt smashed it to bits, 
■ ' - 3 „.i, , 'U, o - u* ■ .V: .19'; 

It goes without saying that one of the sauoers arriving today 
will take its permanent place on my night table in 
front of the radio where every night, while, getting the 
news, I enjoy a cigarette before calling it a day• 

Hie one that will occypy that most intimate position will be 
the 1 franc 50 centimes oi\e, The reason I select this 
particular one instead of the 5 franc one is because 
is because when I was young and gay, the drinks I ordered 
most frequently Mens .in the 1 franc 50 centimes category rather 
than the 5 franc class. Until T glanced at the two 


I 










10166 


10165 


Wednesday, October 28th, 1959 


different denominations, I hadn t thought anything a bout this 
point but at this moment 1 find-myself wondering what I 
used to buy at 1 franc 50, and I suppose it mu3t have 
been coffe in a tall glaS3 or perhaps chocolate in a heavy 
porecelain cup * I suppose such orders were executed both 
morning and night at whatever cafe but probably the 
5 franc saucer appeared for the-less frequent but equally 
delightful presupper hours, at such places as Oporto on 
the rue de Rivoli when, sometime between tea at Smith's 
Book &hop and dinner at home or in a restaurant, it was always 
pleasant to find a place in the.room whose walls were almost 
hidden by the huge mahogny casks of the finer ports of which 
most of my collegues and I had our particular favorite among 
the several different varieties • The picture of that quiet, 
conservative place so often r eturns to my mind when J . H,, 
trying to simplify the world of tastes, declares that all wines 
must taste alike since they are all made from grapes, and 
I usually pass it off by agreeing that that is true, just 
as it is equally true that all peodnes are the same since they 
all grow on pecane trees, to which he immediately voices an 
objection * 

C • t 

' And so the saucers are.he re and so am I as happy as 
a clam to have them as my companions, —the other to grace 
my desk, and grateful to God for Lyme and all that that word 
implies * t 

A sweet note from Miss Mah, inviting me for Christmas * 

My 3ecre tart read the names of my BatonRouge friends as 
n Ray and Phil", —news I must pass along to Kay and 
Pipes, as Miss Mah always calls James, — Shill • 

. oJJ-i oo •»*. *e r ir \j l- vt i bn. 

A letter from Dr, John Cox, President of the Pecane Growers 
Association, expresses approval of a Pecane C 00 x Hook and 
is communicating with the Association's Advertising 
Manager * I'm trying to think how it would be possible 
to catch up with the Lost Word to discusss how much we 
ought to ask the association to pay for such a venture but 
at the moment, oddly enough, I can t think of any way to 
catch up wit that lady or the Rocket, either • Since I don't 
seem able to contact the Lost Word, perhaps I should 
write the a ocket in triplicate, sending same to four 
addresses, asking her to tell the Lost Word if she sees her 
that I want books, invoices and a conference • Smile • Wryly • 
And now to 1 frac 50 and the news***••••••• 







Francois MlGNON Papers# #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection 
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10168 


10167 


Thursday i October 89th, 1959 


is primarily what I had in mind as it two primary virtues. 

I haven't examined the 37 figures, excusin' the mules and 
goosters, appear ing in the frieze but a quick glance 

was enough to enable me to discover c a raciture3 of local p rsonalities 

For instance, a tall lady with a cane, descending a hill, is 

obviously Ezra's mama, Hiss Willie, and another 

lady whom the artist says is a twin of the one just mentioned, 

obviously is not and the twin stuff is merely a covering device 

on the part of the artist. Anyone at a glance would 

recognize Miss C a mmie in black skirt, white shirt waist ond 

white sun bonnet, with the face painted bl'^ck to maintain 

the disguise. A church Appears at the extreme left and extreme 

right of the frieze, in front of eaoh being a man pulling 

the rope on something which ‘is supposed to t be a bell but 

which no one, unacquainted with the artist s whimsy would 

recognize as such. The man at the extreme right in the 

roll of bell ringer, is Wylie Anthony, Doreatha s uncle, and 

the man on the other end of the parade, employed in the s ame 

manner, is q,plantation tractor driver and my barber, J. C. 

Moody. Someday I must take time out to identify some of the 
other characters which will probably be easy enough 

Five or six letters in today's post remain unopened 3ince 
all the secretaries got lost today. From the • 

looks of two or three of the envelopes, they probably are orders for 
the Calico item. I'm not in too much of a hurry 
bout opening them since I have no stock for filling orders. 

I got another letter off to the Lost Word today, saying 
I was greatly in.want of merchahdise, repeating a like appeal 
of a week ago. I haven't a doubt she is up to her 
hips in some legitimate business or other, such as 
turning out a new issue of some magazine, tossing off 
a book, handling Hodges printing or some such but I 
cannot help asking myself what profiteth a girl to be so 
pressed yet unable to deliver the goods. 

..... . ,,., . * vt 1 *■ J 


Memorandum : 


somehow, much to my satisfaction, blowing away *nc pooeno 
Reminders of Urandpere ,as of last night and the night before. 

This afternoon the artist finished the frieze, — 
the two pieces that will fit in under the e a ves but 
separated from each other by the big old chimney. he longer 
section is a wash day scene and of no great distinction. 

The other is a Pecane Party, -- big pecane trees at 

extreme ends, raining down peqanes while ladies 

are gathering a few rather stolidly and an enormous cook stove 

with an equdly tremendous stove pipe dominates the center of the 

pie qe. A lady is making coffee aPd steam is vising a t 

_ great rate from the pot on the stove. As apicture it 


I am resisting Celeste's urgent recommendations that I 
take the upholstered wing charis from the Melrose upstairs 

,g them at ucca. $he puzzles me by her 
to what happens to the Melrose sitting room 
1 own hook as to what I would do with 
Hut both ladies are very happy these days. 


any more furniture 










I 


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10169 


and nobody should be surprised at his report of 
the guest bidden to the dinner party who failed to 
put in an appearance • I declare, I must say I think both 
the Socket and the Lost^ord do play mighty fast .and loose 
with their social as well as their business obligations • 

I was interested to learn that the *ocket is getting ten 
tho-usqnd dollars for her American Library film. My 
guess is that it has already been spent, even as I imagine the 
Hodges film payments have likewise been expended • 

4s for the Lost 0 ord v -my particular problem of the moment, 

I continue to hear nothing, in spite of my report last 
week that I was. out of books and that orders needed filling and 
I needed invoices to bill those already shipped but 
not billed • St range business people, --those girls • 

»•; “ c r c 

After three days of trying, 1 succeeded in getting 
Mary Page on the 'phone this morning. I wanted to do 
a Cane^iver Memo on her doings at Fort Jessup but 
she had been out of town, exploring the Oaarks for 
1825 paraphahalia, —iron cooking pots, wash pots and 
the like and from the Oaarks had flown down the Florida coast to 
see how people in the museums in that quarter were 
fondling 3uch impedimenta. We were interrupted 
in our conversation when she had to leave for Fort Jessup and 
I had calllars. She asked me to call her f at 5. I 
called her at 5* Her maid said she hadn t come in from 
Fort Jessup. I called, in accordance with my note left 
with the maid, at 7 :30» No Page • I called 
at 7:30, 8:00 and 8:30* JStill no Page 
Hence the column of the f+ieae • 

• 

rs. Page said that Henry Clay Watson is at Port Jessup 
now and that she wants me to run over, not to see him, but 
the place. I shall be very interested to see the plaoe 
and very curious to meet Ur. H. C. Watson about 
whom I threaten to write a disagreeable article unless my 
better judgement gets a stronger hold on me • 


I shall be speaking further of my treasured saucers at another 
ing. As all things from Lyme, they have inspired me, 1 think 


sitt 


1C170 


JtYJ > 1 


> u 


Friday, October 50th, 1959, 


ol 


i St 


Memorandum • <■ 

Cloudy and warm with a promise for rain on 
the morrow. 

o ur • o.is £1 'Ll: . ai«n<»r «e.vcc*o- 

.Across the fence, the ladies journyed to town to 
get some kinks put in their perrukes. They said 
Goodbye to me At the coffee hour this morning as they shall have 
headed soutwhard before the coffee hour arrives in the morning. 
They expect to be gone about a week. How to relax is something 
so few people 1 know never seem to have learned. Tlieir 
symbol, —the squirrel in his revolving cage, —still 
holds to be the nearest sign of their status, so far as 
I can figure it. 

. • '*? _ 

Today's post was on the scant side. I continue 
hearing nothing from the Socket or the Lost Word and 
no Calico Cook Books have turned up. Nightly 1 tell 
myself that tomorrow may bring some signal that there is life 
from that quarter or those quarters. 

I discovered something along te front gallery today 
which, from its appearance, must have existed at least all 
3ummer. Almost opposite the door to my boudoir, but * 
along the outer edge of the brick pavement, I discovered 
axako a hole about the siae of a dinner plate in circumference • 
Because of the luxuriance of the Giant's Beard border along the 
brick pavement, this opening may well have been there 
for six mo nth 8, a year or even longer. I 
gather it must have probably been made by an armdillo or 
perhaps a 'possum although probably the former since 
a helper, cati^d in to lend an exploratory hand could detect 
no, ligir. I oiVo bamboo pole about 25 feet in «■ \ 

length and inser^d it to discover* if the opening 
was merely a.littl^cavern or a tunnel. It'was the latter 
and seemed to be iower than 12 inches at various statlbtib 
along its path which ran diagonally across the gallery and 
under the house, entering near the door to the living room and 








1C172 


Sunday, Novebmer 1st, 1959 


Memorandum: 

Cloudy and mild with half an inch .jof rain last 
night with the sane kind of r ain and cloudiness and warmth 
promised for tomorrow. 

The- ladies got off around 8 on Saturday morning 
and are scheduled to be back by next Friday or Saturday, 

• 

On Saturday noon, as I was heading toward the big house 
for dinner, I met the President of Northwestern and the 
President of the Colorado School of Mines, John Kyser 
had brought Dr, Kuhn down for a look at the African buildings, 

The Colorado School of Mines was having a game of football with 
Northwestern, Colorado ha'ving flown down from Denver or, 

Colorado Spring or where ever to Natchitoches, I didn t 
a sk them to sit. down but did enjoy chatting with them as 
we strolled about from building to building, and on 
their departure, I seemed to take theiopbakc momentarily when 
I expressed the hope that both their teams would win the game, 

3 . v.- . i •'* - 

And speaking of football, T was mildly surprised msyelf 
today when I learned that instead of going to Baton Rough by 
automobile of which the Cloutiers have several, Beth and 
her husband joined with a flock of other Paris/] people 
going to BatonRouge, traveling by buses, each of which , it is 
said, was neatly' furnished with a bar « *hy anybody should 
have wanted to go to the game, T cannot imagine but 
why eth. and husband should have preferred bus to private coveyence, 
is, quite beyond me, he buses jeft Natchitoches at 11 on Saturday 
morning, The game pegan at 8 Saturday night. The bus 
schedule called for the buses to get back to Natchitoches 
a t 5 this Sunday morning. How successful some people seem to 
be in thinking up things to make life exhausting for themselves. 

As for myself, I had a lovely evening, For the first 
time in too long a time, I made use of my reading machine, 
skimming through a few pages of this month's leaders Jhgest 
which had arrived only a day or so ago, andafter that, 


continuing diagonally under the house, passing about 
under the portrait of randper, and so on under the west room 
and thence, far beyond the end of the bamboo, out into the 
little garden at the west end of the house where I discovered 
the other entrance or exit, 

o 

Tomorrow morning I 3hall fill up asomuch of the tunnel as 
possible beginning at the opening under the "iant's Beard 
on the edge of the gallery and then put a few shovels of earth at 
the other end of the tunnel, Thi3 will alonp whatever animal 
or family of animals to dig their way out into the west garden and 
thus avoid suffocatingion, I hope to persuade these neighbors 
to find some other entrance under xucca than one which will 
make such a'splendid opportunity for tons of water-ta 
flow under the house, since each entrance is right under the 
edge of the house where the eaves drip or cascade, whenever 
there is a shower, I apologize for the interminable length of 
this episode, I am interested in it because it demonstrates so well 
how long animals that one never sees may live in such close 
neigbhorliness without anyone realizing it. The thought just 
occurs to me that Renard might have fashioned such a den but 
I think not for if he had, there would hav been tmll-tale 
hairs somewhere along the passage and the bamboo poll, 
moistened to pick up and hold such evidence, r evealed nothing, 

I, S, Hillard called tonight to report an improvement of her voice 
and so it seemed to have improved although it wasn’t much help to 
me since she obviouslywas gazing about the room where she 
was, forgetting to keep the telephone within range 
of her voice so that the fading was almost constant, but easily 
corrected when I aromatically lowered my voice to a pitch she 
couldn t possibly hear, thus bringing her mind back to 
the position of her 'phone, I like the gal, she has such a kind hear 
but x must say it gets a little trying when/ slxf can t stick to 
a sentences, as: n Oh, yes, I intended, ertjjnt, ah,, oh,,, .well .... 

I m not sure . that is,,,,what I me a nt. Jor raXher, what I 

started tosay . but perhaps you have Mard,,,oh, but, by the 

way,,,,,and on and on, 

And tomorrow night all the animals will kneel at 12 and 
the saints will arise from their tombs and I shall probably listen 
to the L,S,U,-Mississippi football game . 










10174 


10173 


Monday, November 2nd, 1959 


fortified by a tall glass, cigarettes and my 1 frace 50 cenTimes 
saucer, I flattened myself out on my downy couch and listened to 
the radio broadcast all the racket going on at the L, S, U • - 
Old Miss game, praising Cod that the crowd of 68,000 people 
was right wsxe where it was and that I was right where I was, 

* *» 

Felling certain on awakening this morning, that I should not 
have more than half a do sen interruptions, —and I was correct, 

I thought there was no time like the present to knock off the 
text for the Uncle Tom book which J did, While writing it, 
the thought secured to me that perhaps a better title than thus j 
imagined might be 
. . 

A Cook's Tour *'■’ 

r- •/ Uncle Horn's Cabin <. 

. s. 

and Kitchen • 

The Cook and the Kitchen ought to arrest the ey of 
m a ny a local tourist who never heard of oldlhomas 
of continental fame andat the same time underline the Kitchen 
Part of the thing • * 

shall send the text to James on the morrow 
so that the errors may be caught and corrected before passing 
it along to the Lost Word, from whom, by the way, I continue 
to hear nothing* I am going to make a list of the illustrations 
I think are imperative for the volume, several of which the 
Pocket possesses, such as Uncle 1 omi's grave, dedication 
of St, Simon's Church, Clementine Hunter and so on, hi3 job 
I shall turnover to the Lost Word, that is the job of rounding 


Memorandum : 


Pure summer with the thermometer in the 80's and 
the 3ky, instead of being cloudy and rainy, a s,promised, as 
clear as a bell, 

I busied myself with so many odds and ends that I felt 
I had accomplished nothing by nightfall although I must 
3ay I enjoyed the piddling in the wake of yesterday's concentrat 

0 ■ 

J, H, brought me ,some people for a tour this 
morning, —Ur, and M r 8, Jerry Pratt, —brother 
of Charles Pratt, who ltve between ermuda and town, 
and some guests of theirs from California, —Bank of America 
folks. Following a little go-round, J, H, dispensed 
drinks at his house and the visit was pleasant enough, even thou , 
the Pratts were never my favorite people, what with two generat 
flf jiving in the river bottoms has never quite succeeded in 







I 


From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Car'olina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


u>l 


10175 


10176 


I'll 't 




not from the effects of excessive libations but from a 
terrible cold which had struck her earlier in the week and had 
greatly altered her voice when 1 talked with her on Friday,, 

I should imagine the bed treatment rather an improvement 
over the football attack on her malady, 

This after oon Beau Mackappeared on my gallery 
bearing two huge baskets, He said the boys had just 
paid seven dollars for them from a man who had stopped 
at the store and had told Beau touring them straight to 
me as he believed I liked -baskets. I allowed as how I did, 
and found them exceptionally well made by some craftsman in the j 

Today the postman duplicated his performance of last 
Monday in bringing me nothing but some throw away stuff 
by way of mail. If he repeats last Tuesday's perfor¬ 
mance on the morrow, there will -be -a stack of 1st class 
letters, at least half of which- should h a ve arrived 84 hours 
earlier • Frankly, * had hoped there 
might be some Calico Cook Books if not any 
fe,8poji8es to my several notes to the LostWord but 
I reckon she continues too busy to bother about 
books or correspondence • Were one to learn that she and 
the Rocket spent the week end at the L, S, U, game or 
were inFlorida or Hew York or California, or even 
in M a ny or Natchitoches, one certainly would h a v no 
right to be surprised. How lucky for them they found 
e a ch other, two ladies, each so* gifted in her own way and 
yet both of them so wonderfully irresponsible, I certainly 
did better than I. dreamed of when I wrote a letter o introduoti 
to the Lost Word for the^ocket. 

* 

What with the sun having set at 5:84 this evening. 

It was almost dark when I returned from attending to 
the boxer across the fence and I was impressed by the 
number of Chinese magnolias that came into flower 
today because of the heat instead of waiting +ntil 
January 1st to start their parade. Of course all the 
leaves on the trees are still as fresh and green as 
in April and somehow thus clothed.in greenery, they don't 

seem like themselves when be-decked with blossoms. 

- 

Poor Professor van Boren, —today's relelations seem 
so pitiful somehow .. 


Tuesday, November 3rd, 1959, 


3: ii 
- t 
bi.h 


Memorandum: 

The cloudiness remains and the thermometer 
continues to remain during the day in the 8O's. I like it. 

The anticipated deluge of 1st class mail did not 
materialise . *>ea» O'Brien came through with a letter 

just as dull as usual. How muct\ I wish she and scads of other 
people I know would write the Estate^ when they want pecanes, Thelma 
called me the. other day, saying she had received a check for 
ten dollars from some woman, asking her to h a ve that many 
dollars worth of pecanes sent her, Thelma asked an/ 
their were any peoanes available and if there should 
be, would I pr e/er to h a ve her send me the check or the money • 

I told her 1 preferred neigkher but since she had to 
address a letter anyway, she might just as well do 30 to the 
Estate which would be handling the transaction qnyway . Two 
minutes later, Cqrmen called , asking me to provide her with 
a canvas and instruct the artist to paint a special picture featuring 
this, that and the other thing at the same price she 
painted the last one for her, I must be getting crabby when such 
matters bore me Probably in the O'Brien case, I 
find it poor business to pay six or eight dollars for 
pecanes to be sent to her in exchange for a quarter s worth of 
peanut candy that.I don t care for and accordingly give 
nwav althouqh 1 could get a heap more and more popular candy for 
l heap lossl I guess it all boils down to. the fact that Jean bores * 
and therefore I experience something less than a paroxyn of deligh 
1 see letters from that quarter heading my wpy, 

• t 

There was a nice letter fromDr. John Cox, 
nowever, attaching a copy of his letter to the Pecane 
recommending my suggestion that a pecans book be issued, He 
writes he has already heard favorably from officers o the Associatio 
expressing the idea , in their opinion, to be excellent. How, as 
seems unlikely, if I can ever track down the Lost »ord to 
liivs STO.Vi V.J.! it HO CIQ 'jLC 



niu 


1 


to oVr.0 


se-n: 


so t sprurne 
>06 \a <5 mm 










Francois Hignon Papers. #11-3889 


10178 


1C177 


find, out how much money is going to be required to get out 
such a volume, perhaps 1 can speak with a little more 
sense to the pecans folks. What a lot of beefing I 
a m putting into this letter. 

Last night, just as I caught up with Invitation 
to Learning, my telephone rang and so I missed much that 
wa 3 3 a id a bout Thomas Ma'.nn ah d his n udden brooks. 

I do net know the book except from reviews and wish I 
might have become further acquainted with it. Another set 
of panelists discussed ^he *aegic Mountain a while 
back along with the author, and it would have been 
interesting to have heard what the g entlemen last night 
would h a ve had to say. There was some mention of the 
humor in the book, —a statement I found arresting. 

Because I don't know his books very well, I an quite 
ignorant of the a uthor's humor for I must confess I 
find him occupying a place in German literature, so far as 
think of him, as being somewhat analogous to the place 
occupied by vonBeethoven in music or Michael Angelo 
in sculpture, supperbly creative in masterful compositions 
but generally devoted to works leaning very lightly on 
• humor. Perhaps I shall catch up with the same program ove 
some other station later in the week, 1 hope. 


Wednesday, lovember 4th, 19 59 


Memorandum j 

, .J’-O-.'.!': 9 i i " »"• > • ‘ 

.. +’f 11 cltud V» all blue 3ky , all rain and all ; 

the thermometer till in <the 80's. It was srpinl 
most of the morning, followed by an inch of rain 

Ca i me da * slin 9 sunshine for the balaiu 
tonight there s a lovely crescent of the new mooi 
sKy. Tomorrow night we are promised a suggestion 
now all the doors and windows are open and, excel 
the temperature is grand. 

.Along about 9 this morning. Dr. John Cox apt 
quite unexpectedly at my door. He came to talk a 
the pecane book a nd we thrashed out a few points 
mutual satisfaction. I think we may end up by as 
few, perhaps 1 50, shellers and retailers of pecan 
would like to have their names appear in the book 
»/ s®, they can subscribe to about 50 books apiec 

C +l VeT the °! 8t Panting, —J hope, and ev 
t/iore on out should be gravy so f ar as that 
publication is concerned, 

■ a - 'v ' 

j 7 *• Cox had left, —•it was about 20:$ 
I elephoned the Lost Word to see about confirmin 
confirmation for my outline with Dr. Cox. I talk 
somebody in her office, she being out. The perse 
vmlonteered the information that the Socket had s 
the* night in Marshall. I know not if 1 was suppo 
that the Lost Word had, too, or what. The 
t } ad iH S trmed that winds up to 70 miles 

had hit the Marshall a rea between 1 and S o'clock 
morning, blowing down out door movie screens. up- 
trees and turning houbes'about on their foundation 
this turned,the girls about on their foundations. 


Tonight's commentators referred to tod a y's voting 
in many-.cities across the country and the elections for 
Governor being held in Kentucky and Mississippi. The 
commentators said the politicians would be watching to see what 
trends might be revealed. Smart me, I predict a Democrat will 
win in Mississippi at least although what sort of a trend 
such a victory would r eveal, 1 cannot say « Smile, if 
you can, for the voters in Mississippi who, like the , 
Russians, have but a single party and yet still goes through 
a charade, described as noting, 


I believe I did not mention that Ora called 
me the other day to say she had given up the idea of ^ 
studying in r ari s this summer but., instead, will 
3 imply go there for a month to look the place over,', 
and then go on to England where she will enroll for 
a summer course at Oxford, flying to Europe and then returning 
home by boat. It sounds like a good deal,...•••• 






I From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M“3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library", Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 



Thursday, November 5th, 1959, 


wouldn't Know, 

I asked that the Lost Word telephone me when she 
appeared • 1 haven't heard from her as yet but I 

m n y before the night gets too far advanced • 

A couple of weeks -back, I had written the Socket 
somewhere, pointing out that the murals were approaching 
x [; the boiling point and that I hoped they might be 

photographed before they get a ciat of shellac and before they 
re elevated to their final position where photographs 
cannot be taken of them except at great inconvenience and with 
the guarantee that the construction work supporting the 
roof will hide sections of the figures • No peep from 
the direction of the photographic department a nd, knowing 
the Rocket must hdve passed this way heading North, one can 
but guess things more important must be cooking, Well, so be it. 

After 80 years of kicking the old Dutch kitchen around 
in the African House, it dawned on my dull brain 
, today that it could be used to especial advantage slap in 
front of the gas stove at Tucca and so it is resting under 
this roof tonight,""One of my friends a day or two ago brought me 
a hunk of wonderful old fashioned cheese and tonight I 
shall put a few slices on sode crackers on a tin pie plate 
and set same in the Dutch oven about five minutem before 
news time at 10 and mg'gu&ss is that I shall, have 
some elegant morsels vfiat will make me wonder 
why r never Irheughrb of putting this ante bellum oven into 
us* inoonjunotitn with a butaine stove and get results 
that I feel assured a re going to enchant my palate « Were 
little Miss Lee about, something’ tells me there would be 
no end to *the inventions' that might result from this 
combination of yesteryear and right now • 

Tonight, NBC, - Morgan Beatty, never mentioned 
yesterday's election and CBS, —Blair Clark, mentioned 
only Israel's balloting, As a non-newspaper reader, 

I find this political void quite odd .. 


Memoranduy .1 * / 

A beautiful day, starting off quite warm and ending up 
quite cold, The new moon is bright-bright, as it so often 
is when coldness has cleared the air and the radio 
say the thermometer will 3ag to freezing, Tonight, 
in short, one will probably say Aurrevoir to the butterfly 
lilies for 1959, 

•• * ' c 

My day has been fairly » busy, I 'phoned Ola Mae at 
her Shreveport home at 7:30 this morning to discuss the pecane 
book to see if we agreed on publication details 
of that item before I put it in writing to the Pecane Growers 
Association, We agreed • She 3aid she had been working very 
hard, would .try to get me some invoices next week and some 
t books as soon as possible, — the Calico Cook Book, of 
*which I haven't a single copy. She said she thought she and 
Carolyn would take q vacation shortly, Hummmmmm, 

The post brought several letters of interest but nothing e specially 
vital. The one from Robina speaks for itself, especially 
qs regards the Ola Mae failure to handle to book fair • 


•5 ,* . 1 • 

Essae Mae's letter was an unexpected Hem • I don't 
much get the point which D think wqs not about the book although 
one would, a ssume so from its content. As I recall, she 
ordered three books in all of the Melrose Plantationcooking thing,— 
three books for the State Library in Baton Rouge and the 
65 Parish libraries, which didn't strike me at the time as 
being much of an order, In responding to her letter, 

I merely stated the price, retail and net and then 
went ell to congratulate her on the recent doctorate 
award to her by L, S, U, I pointed out that 

while she and I had not always had precisely the same perspective 
on one or another point, "due in large measure, no doubt to 
my poor vision", still, 1 felt as one with everyone I knew 
in wanting to extend congratulations to her on the 
recognition the State University had accorded her • 

' •' \ ' 

As for the letter from Mr, Hodges, I thought- it quite 
friendly, *hen he calls, 1 shall accept hi3 Sunday 
invitation to spend the day with him and shall*, arrange 


$ 



From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library', Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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10181 


10182 


to meet him, not here, but in Many. , l'm wondering if 
a private shewing of Garden in the *orest or whatever 
Carolyn's film is called, may be in the cards for showing 
shortly. 1 hope it isn't on the Sunday agenda but, if so 

I may at least get a chance to see the producer if not he 


Friday, November 6th, ly59. 


so, 

her film. 


About 1 o'clock this a fternoon, while I was a+bhana, 
some ladies prowled t a bout in se rch of me and eventually 
caught up'w ith me. ‘ One was a friend of Blythe and 
one was a mother of a college girl and another was the college 
girl herself, possibly of u orthwestern, and the other ladies 
were somebodies but 1 forget how. The college girl wants to do 
a thesi3 on Miss Cammie's cultivation of the Arts. I could give 
her quite a bit of material and that batch went away 
pleased. 1 made the mo3t of the presence of Blythe3 friend 
by asking her to 'phone lythe to tell her on my -account 
that I shall not be at home on Sunday, should 3he 
be planning to make a round to see .me shortly, as threatened. 

Mr3 .Walker called ,to say the column, under the title of 
A Neap of Old Shoes, which I had forwarded yesterday, was 
much to her liking but would probably get the artist into 
difficulties with theWelfare or Old Age Departments and 
suggested we not run it. I told her I would knock off another 
tonight and post it on the morrow. She reports she has a 
new white fur l\at, a red suit and some other fixin's she will 
wear tomorrow when she goes to Baton Rouge for a couple of 
days to attend a Louisiana Press Women's convention. 

On the home front, — 1 nearly said the hearth front , I 
am delighted to be able to report that I .enjoyed vast 
3Uc cess in my attempt to make cheese and cracker shundwiches 
in the Dutch oven last night. The t success was such 
that I 3hall attempt a melted cheese sandich on toast 
tonight. The old oven, so many years, in, the old, 
old daya, a 'companion of the open fireplace, adjusted itself 
perfectly to the contempoary virtues of butaine gas* heaters 
and I'm looking forward to the impending seaspn with the greatest satisfat 
as the longed, colder night take over A friend brought 
me some big t yellow apples, purchased from some truck passing 
qlong the river road and I'm bound to try bating a couple of these 
one of these evening, removing, the seeds and inserting a day 
of sugar and a few ras'ins. When the writer of a cook book 
stprts cooking, there's just'Ao telling where things will end. 


Memorandum • 

rii 7 *™tcr kept right on rolling oer us 

nf 1 ™ 9 ™ “ 2I da J and toni 9M the thermometer stands 

at 30. The cold, it is said, will moderate on the 
morrow, I hope. 

thought it so timely that somebody in Dallas 
found some letters of Mark Twain,written to a boy of 
IS a century b a ck, saying thdt he would have to accept 
re-jiving boyhood again on'certain conditions 3 uch aa 

a + 11 -,Hl ar round and m a 9 nolias blooming 
throughout the twelth month. y 

h-inn?!* best thing bout my day was' the arrival of the mail 
bringing a letter from Lyme. It is tucked' away in my anmoir 

SiiTV* W ] U awc t 14 a thawi ng out of secretaries, a fete that 
will be achieve by morning, I trust. 1 J 


him I wo 
10. He 
he would 
eve ning. 
a fa'Jor 
to dine 
have an 
holding 
out of d 


I. Hodges telephoned thi3 afternoon. I told 
'Uld appear in the gardens on the Sabbath morn at 
expressed enchantment at the prospect and said 
(be delighted todrive me home in the 
I don t know if he thinks he is doing me 
by asking me to view the gardens with him and 
a,nd sup in his island mansion with him but I 
ldea to which of ud is'doing the f a vor and I'm 
tnc thought the weather may be cooperat ve for the 
oor part of the doings. 


You will be sorry to learn that Madam R gard 
las broken her hip. She and Celeste returned late 
* ls afternoon from the South Louisiana frolic. Madam 
Regard got out of the car and went up the taps and 
on to the gallery where she stooped over to pick up 




10184 


10183 


Sunday, November 8th, 1969 


i something and quite unexpectedly sat down, tihen she 
of lifted up, she s aid her hip hart and so she was placed 
on her bed and the lady doctor was summoned. She arrived 
at dusk dark, pronounced the hip broken and 
an ambulance was called to take her to Cabrini Hospital 
in Alexandria I shall keep you advised as to 
what is next, of course. 

And just as finished that paragraph, a tap came at 
my door. It wasn t j, H,, as I )iad expected, but 
a secretary who had seen my light, got thawed out and 
passed this way, I am delighted'with every word in your 
grand message and the clippings concerning Qliana, Uganda and 
all. I’m so glad to know a bout "Ah,Wild emess", It 
is making me so happy to know that you two girls could 
commune at long last, I'm still lloving my 
little kiosk and the 1 ,50 and 5' franc saucers,- 
I feel sure they are s till used as usual in all sidewalk cafes. 
At t he Safe de la Paix and at the Rotunde and the Home, L 
have marveled at the liiay a waiter could pick up a 
stack of them, epresenting the drinks of one customer's 
sitting, and calculate the total of the bill without 
scarcely looking at the figures, In the old days, as 
I, recall, cafe noire was 1 franc and 50 centimes and a 
liquor was five francs,'' Wines of different brands and varieites 
brought different saucers so far as the figure appearing on the 
concerned and it was all very practicle and very delightful both 
for the waiters and the customers in that everyone 
knew exactly where the bill stood as the sitting and consumption 
was prolonged, 

I’m glad you liked the calico number. It 
reatils a * $Si00, $1,80 net. I should 
have mentioned in yesterday '3 note, r egardina Robina's 
observation, that I had never mentioned Ola ^ae 1 s name 
to her and I vaguely wonder how she knew it was published in 
Shreveport, 

So runs out the week and so begins another week end, 
both the happier for me because of the message from 
Lyme . on a sweet card depicting two brids, one of whom 
symbolizes little Miss Lee and perchance Lestan as the other,,. 


Memorandum: 

• • 

Too cloudless days. Two mornings with ice and 
afternoons in the upper 50 's. 

You will be quite taken aback when I break down and confess 
that I seem to have suddenly metamorphosed into --of all things,— 
a road runner, • * 

• 

Juanita B, called Saturday afternoon, saying she and 
Pat were driving down to call on Madam Regard and inviting me to 
make the Alexandria goyround with them, I declined on 
the theory, u^hich was n t true, that I was awaiting a long 
distance call but I really -did appreciate their invitation. 

At supper J, H, asked me if I didn't want to ride down 
witli him, I said I did, which was also an untruth but 
I thought the least I could do by way of making a gesture of 
appreciation to him for h a ving offered to drive me to Many on 
the Sabbath and so T went to the store a bout first dark where 
I found him waiting,talking with who had just returned, 

As a pin had been put in Madam Regard's hip during 
the early fternoon, —local anesthetic, - T thought 
rest would serve her better than visiters, We merely 
stepped into her room, said Howdy, and stepped out, the 
entire visit lasting not more than it takes two 
gentlemen to say Howdy, which was probably about 2 seconds. 

Celeste whx> is staying with her mother, joined us on our 

a rrt,val and then went with us for a cup of coffee in 

the hospital caferteria. The hospital, by the way, seems to be utte 

perfect in every sort of way, 

• fi 

The trjp down, and b a ck afforded fine opportunity for 
conversation and several avenues for the future of domestic arrangem 
were discussed about which I shall touqh upon at subsequent sittings 
My companion thought ^adam Regard didn t look well, f 
I didn t even see her but one would expect 3he wouldn t. 






From the FRANCOIS MiGNON Papers , #H~5889 in Che Southern Historical Collection, 

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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


I6H5 


10186 




This morning J * H • and I breakfasted at the, hotel in town 
and then headed for Many, pausing while in the F ort Jessup to 
glance at doings there • On approaching Many, I asked 
J. if he didn't want to drive me on to the gardens • Me 

said he would be glad to but didn't want to impose himself 
on Mr. Hodges and me. At the gate, a bout 8 mile3 from 
the center of the place, —the gardens, - he again, very thoughtfully 
3aid he didn't want to intrude • I persuaded him not to be 
silly • We caught sight of Mr. Hodges and one of his secretaries, 

Miss H...... and together we drove to the ferry slip, le a ving 

the ccacsds there and crossing the lake on the electric ferry * We 
did the house which is something and J. H. was enormously impressed * 

The aectrtary toured J. H. in one.direction, Mr. Hodges toured 
me in another and finally we all met again We had coffee, home 
made cookies and conversation in the big dining room at a table 
with 84 amr chairs • Then all four of us descended to the ferry again 
and re^crossed the lake, the secre ary going away in her car, 

J • H . in his car, and Mr. Hodge and I heading off for a tour 
of a portion of the gardens on foot 9 

f * • 

After two or three hours, we returned to the island where 
we dined in a mor$ intimate dining room, a bout the size of my 
boudoir and living room combined * The food, served by an 
ebony butler, was delicious —including a 

steak that rivaled the Sterling Evans steak of last summer, 
several vegetables, fresh tomato and .cucumber salade, some 
marvelous hot breads, home made ice cream of H a nd measurement in 
each serving, coffee, cakes and so on* 

Then we took off on a wider tour by car, after returning by 
ferry to the main land * The orchids in the conservatories were wonder¬ 
ful as were a number of erotic tropical plants, many of which 
were new to me • Then through more woods with charming vi3ta3 and 
thence to the hall., both recreational and dormitory, the 
hall in the center, a dormmatory at each extremity of the central 
recreational room, each of these oppositve rooms furnished with 
chic b'ed3 to the number of fourty in e a ch of these rooms . A 
kitchen, equiped in every known device is incorporated in 
the same building andquite sumptuous bathrooms * 1 he 
whole thing is a sort of modern rendition of la M a ison de la Heine 
a t the Tfalnon Hameau with the connecting section all in glass, 

• 

Mr. Ho' ges drove me home at sunset so it was fir t dark 
when we arrived and he did not come iit* J. H. arrived two 
minutes later and we supped together, he bubbling over the while 
about his admiration for Mr. Hodges and his fine establishment 
and now I hope my Unexpected road running may be finished fora long tii 


P. S . 

Contrary to custom, I slide over on to a second 
page because I want to speak of the Acropolis and the Parthenon * 

Knowing as you do, how I have be-moaned the absence of grandeur 
from the garden concepts, you can readily imagine how enchanted 
I was when, during our rambles this afternoon, I suddenly 
found myself on a high point above the rose gardens at a spot where 
the eye could sweep the horizon for miles and discover the reflection 
of the- sky in the vast spread of the lake below * 

i 1 

By some miracle that is beyond my comprehension, this 
high point had been leveled off and a huge trellis of red cypress posts 
been set up in the shape of a' paralogram, just about 
the size of the Parthenon. There was no roof, of course, juse the 
outline of the paralogram, except at the ends where the 
suggestion of a roof line, under which, in the Greecicoi version, 
the Elgin marbles had stood * One'could walk all around 
this framework of the building, what with the upright cedar posts 

'J • 'J *•- 

foming a sort of colonnade * 

Instead of a floor, there were three parterres occupying 
the space thus surrounded, a square parteere at each end and either a 
square or an oblong garden occupying the middle section of the 
expqbe • Green grass grows in the parterres, surrounded 
by gravel walks, and in the’four corners of each square stands 
a tree rose, perhaps 5 feet in height, and slap in the middle 
of each-of thes two squares will stand a white crepe myrtle • The 
middly square or oblong will be dominated by a fountain * 

I paused, sighed and murmured the word, "Parthenon "* 

That didn't seem to evoke anything in the mind of my companion 
and we stroll along * hen 1 paused again and said s —trying another 

word s ; 

" 0 , 1 • 

"You know what has been wrought here, —an open air 
AcropoliSm" 

My companion blinked, stared at me fixedly and then ex¬ 
claimed : , 

< 

"Nobody has recognized this as yet and nobody has employed 
such a word * >But you have hit the nail on the head * That 8s 
what this is, —the Acropolis * 

• : * ' ' ' 

• My host seemed thrilled, even as was I p but for 
quite a different rectson * 






From the FRA NCOIS HlGNON PAPERS, #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


10187 


10188 


Monday, November 9th, 1959, 


We discussed basic treatment of the planting, agreeing the 
interior space should be left with its 8 rose trees, 
two crepe myrtles and the fountain. All around the outer line 
of columns should be a sold wall of scarlet climbing roses, and 
inside the inner colonnade, rows of roses bushes of white and of 
yellow roses • * 

We walked over to the end- of the construction work, on the side gi 
on the lake far be how. We stood and talked there a long time. I 
sensed it but-L'm no/- sure if the glimmer went deep enough to 
echo again in the consciousness of my host. But 
was what had really happened was that at long last a truly 
classic form was in the making and from now on there was hopes that 
the best of classic form might find itself becoming part of this 
fabulous landscape and the gardens, for ther first time 
in their existence, began to vibrate properly. 

We continued our stroll. The sunshine was d'azsling, the breeze b i 
the waterfalls and rills made delightful'tinkling sounds in tune with 
Tale of the * iaana 4 Woods and other lilting times, which Ay btti the 
magic of contempoary doings Wa3 broadcasting from the island home a 
program that was carried by concealed transmission to various 
glades and beauty spots throughout- the gardens • The 
*rest of the stroll before returning home for dinner was so 
exhilerating because of the Acropolis and the Tale of the Vienna Woods, 

After supper tonight, ^ wr^otc my bread and butter note 
to my host of the day• I dtdn t mention food, tour or even the 
courtesy of driving me home himself. I wrote simply 
this * 


SundayMight, 


Dear friend. 


If it be true, as the old adge has it, that "All M roads 
lead % to Rome", then this s tatement must fce euqally valid : 

"All dreams stem from'the Acropolis * 

Thanks for having given it b a ck to me and thanks, too, for 

having wrapped it up so beautifully. 

• 

Sincerely, 


Memorandum j 

All blue, all gold, all cool but not cooler than 
36 tonight which is a better condition than last night's 
27 degrees • 

• - " 

There seemed to me lots stirring on the plantation in 
a general shifting a bout. he cook told me her boy, 18, was leaving 
this morning to join the Army • He was going with Little 
.King to town to enlist and then continue with him to 
Shreveport for induction or whatever, while Little ting will 
go on from there to re-enlist or rejoin his company 
in Colorado Springs. One lockk at civilian 
employment and little King thinks he would do better to 
stay on the Army payroll and I believe he is right • Besides, 

Little King wants to spend Christmas at home with 

, a guarantee of some money in his pocket and if he re-joins the Army 
now, he will be able to enjoy a month’s re-induotion vacation 
that will carry him through December 25th, —a sort of odd move, in 
n-way, to guarantee a Cabin Christmas* Doreatha, 
the cook, and Zelma are close friends and I think they are both 
glad their offspring are going off together. A letter 
from Little King's twin. Big Six, says he will be out of 
jail before Christmas, I believe he is in Oregon, and he 
hopes to see Little King at the holiday season. 

The Dark Luke is currently living on aBalthasar 
plantation up the road and I know not if he has divorced hiself 
from the bottle but I hope so. He reports his p brother in 
prison is asking for underwear which somehow seems like an 
unexpected request since, without knowing a thing about it, 

I had assumed the State probably supplied undies,as.well as 
the striped uniforms for ttye prisoners • 

Their sister, Moonie, —the bride, - is supposed to have 
gone to the hospital yesterday. She has been somewhat larger than 
n battleship since last May lor June, suggesting that 
she may have something like a tumor along with the 
unborn child Dog "Sapp, home for his sister s funeral. 










eaioi 




i 




! 


From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M ~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


10189 


10190 


IWlDl 


/ 


likes the Air Force and although his le a vc tan t over 
until the 28th, is anxious to get back with his unit 
in Greece. I don't know why it seems odd Americg should 
h n ve an Air Force in Greece but it does. 

Some youth from northwestern who is trying his hand at 
writing articles for newspapers to get some extra cash to help him 
through school, telephoned me this afternoon to ask 
if I would see him about material. I would. He will 
come tomorrow morning at 8:30. He siad a nice 

lady at the Chamber of Commerce had given him my telephone number, 
t e nice lady be ng firs. J ack Britton, and it was Ann who told 
me of the youth's efforts to get some college money flowing 
in his direction. I got busy and laid out some material which may 
help him and tonight, before folding up, shall jot down 
some possible topics which might make the Shreveport limes 
Special Features Section I & always enchanted when there's 
a n opportunity to give these youngsters encouragement. 

Reverting to Saturday night's ride where conversation 
could perk as between but two, I was interested when my 
companion remarked that he supposed one might as well face 
f a ot that his wife probably wouldn't much like living in 
the country, once her mother has gone. He said he didn t 
know any way to live in town and operate a plantation. I 
agreed that was impossible. I took the opportunity to give 
~word of-advice which I doubt he will followx find a 
house in town, he 3aid price made no difference, - and 
acquire it without consulting his spouse, explaining merely 
it had to.be taken in payment of a debt and that the time wasn't 
right for re-selling and that,he would like to have a couple 
of rooms fixed up fov convenience when either of them chanced 
to be in town and wanted to rest alittle or freshen up 
between business or social apointments • An accomplished 
fact would a void enless birckering, acceptances and rejections, 
were the di88taff side under the ijmpressicn a town house was 
being prepared. Je shall see what we shall see. 

1 had to laugh this morning when going to the store, 

J, H, volenteered the fact that he had checked on the 
insurance carried on the A. J. Hodges island home and found 
it to be three hundred fifty thousand dollars. Somehow that 
seemed to set the seal on-cti object which he had thought to 
be pretty fine. And new if I could only get Mr. Hodges to persuade 
Ola Mae to send me some Calico Cook Bookx......... 


uesday, November 10th, 1959, 


yov 


the 


him 


l\i s> 


, Memorandum s 

Hot quite so cool, not'quite so. clear and apromise of 
rain for tonight and tomorrow. 

e.i' ‘S.ii. ■ in./ 

message from Lyme in today's po3t delighted me. Such 
little' Howdies between the opportunities for more extended chats 
fill me with no end of pleasure since it afford me an opportunity 
to catch a glimpse of little Miss Lee d .ong the way between 
pauses . 


S " -■ V.i i T 


th<jt 


ur 




fail.' 0 


1ST bit 
ft Cl' 


L fril 
ansi 5 


an. ana- 
l -o 


I'm glad you like the title for the Uncle Tom thing, •'ernes 
a joHts.8 he fears* tixe two .vmvrds, "Cook's Tour":, although not 
' copyrighted, might Jx a ve cl a ims to ownership through prolonged 
use<jgs and recommends some other combination. I shall have 
to mull th,is o er a little and see if I think Thomas Cook and*on wo 
protest. I suppose a substitute might he found in some such 
combination as "Gourmet 1 8 Hey to Uncle omis Cabin and 
Kitchen, might do but I'm sure the average 

tourist has no notion of the meaning of x the word, Gourmet. Per¬ 
haps a stmple statement such as Uncle om's Cabin and Cook Book 
might, in the end, be the best choice, sofar as attracting the to 
trade. I 3 hall prob n bly have ample time to think this over 
before a decision has to be made. v 
vj. j J . s . v Au'-unr"'.. -• o;:■ ■ 

It has been a month and no word or merchandise from Ola Mae. 

I am beginning to g.ive serious thought, in t he matter of the Pecane 
to giving the manuscript to someone else to consider. The 
fact that the Association is planning one volume, patterned along t 
lines of theCalico book gives me occasion to pause for it must be 
admitted: theCalico book is well turned out and it would 
be disasterous to give the book to someone else to do and 
discover they cannot come up to the 6'alic®. standard. At 
the same time, it will be eqqally disasterous if Ola Mae undertakes 
publication for a thing already subscribed to and then fails to 
make deliveryHow those two girls operate their business 
is much beyond' my means of comprehension. 


van 


.... Tt 
of Arch 


was so kind of you to supply me with the obituary 
i'b a ld Rutledge, jr., about whose death I hod 





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oem 


10191 



10192 


I 


H a pton plantation people but she v rites so infrequently, 
she probably forgot to mention UcClellandville doings, although 
3 he knew of my interest in that quarter. I should *v 

so much like to know what the status of Hampton is and if Prince, the 
.younger, is 3till there• he latter is, or at least was, 
a pure male Hephritite in facial expression and bone structure 
facsimile of which every once in a long time I encounter 
among the descendants of the Africans. Little Elam, of frog fame, 
has a brother, Carlton Brown, who is a smitten imagine of 
the Hephritite appearance, and as he is nearly 7 feet tall 
and thin as a rail, the contours are doubly striking, 1 3hall write 
l a Storm to see what, if anything, can be learned concerning the 
Hampton set up, 4 

A mild form of la grippe continues making its 
rounds, flattening out nobody but making one, as do I, 

for excuple, feel tired and indolent, Had things been more 
quiet here, 1 should probably have taken a nap butthat was impossible 
A nice youth from the college came this morning for assistance in 
his writing, Juanita B, called this morning to a sk if she might 
come and get so me plants this afternoon and the Mother General of the 
Dominican Order of which the convent acorss the river is included, 
called to ask if she might come, The Mother eneral s headquarters 
a re in. Houston and J was delightmd when she spoke to me 
of Sister Prances Jerome with admiration. '-‘■he nuns and 

Juanita B, got here at the same time and . 
after I got rid of the girls in black and white, I grabbed 
a spade nad dug enough stuff to plant the town of Natchitoc es, 
and dying on my feet, the while. 

But at 5.:45 tonight, I took pome pills t 
and fell into the bed and so at this somewhat qu a int hour 
of 2 o'clock, I am. feeling pretty good and shall return 
to my downy couch forthwith to see if J cannot give a 
final coup de grace to the malady which manifests no sign of a cold s 
an ancient feeling in the bones, Bid you ever hegr so much 
. talk about n indisposition. 

Celeste remains in Ale xandria but will perhaps make a round here 
one day this week. As she has her car there and as her mother has 
lots of nurses, not to mention other daughters and 
relatives, I should imagine it would not be difficult 
for Celeste to slide home now and then if 3he felt so inclined but -i 
suppose there are many compensations in greeting all sorts of cal lers 
whether on her mama or somebody else,’for 1 am told there are 
so many "darling" people one meets in the reception rooms, 
re3autrant, etc,, etc,, so you can see the 
l a bor of nursing does offer some dividents, too,.,,, 

_1 


Wednesday, November 11th, 1959. 


Memorandum : t 

Cloudy and sort of 50-ish. 

It seems rather colder than that to me 'because my 
influenza or whatever continues. But I can t quicken 
much sympathy because I seem to have no head or chest cold, 
which is certainly a help for my own miseries since I 
don t have to worry a bout anything except my bone3 which 
feel as though they had been given a good pummelling. 

rv . . .Sir.,-. J 1 

I had a chance to get some help in tidying up 
the house this afternoon and I made the most 
of it Jout at slow-motion speed, praying the Lord, the while, 
that there woul bp no visitors. 

: I 'M a 'Oa 1 ' * 1 414 -' * * 

And so Father Calahan appeared, bringing ai Alexandria 

priest and a co upl of ladies from Michigan. I received them in sli 

motion style, excusing myself for manifesting little pep, 

what with the malady currently astride my person. I like 

Father Cal ahan but though he should h ve had the social sense 

to wit draw after doin Yucca but he didn't. When, 

after doing Ghana and aZ i the est, we got to the 

big house, the Alexandria prelate, seeing a copy of Old 

Louisiana, asked if he migh read us the chtpter on 

Melrose. I rested my brow on my hand a nd the Reverend 

Father went through his paces although it was obvious 

the ladies weren't interested. I was delighted when he 

had finished and the whole posse had gone. 

The artist called me too many times today. After 
all, it is getting close to the middle of the month sol 
reckon shp is probably broke and trying to find some 
employment. She viontpered the information 

that shp had received several telephone Oallsfrom "that bos man 
down yonder", meaning Mr. Evans of Little Eva. She said 
he keeps wanting her to come down to apint a picture but 
when he called again today, she told him she was working for me 
and that f had so much stuff ahead, he woul have to see me about 
her doing the work. She s aid to me that she doesn t 









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10193 


Thursday, November 12th, 1959 


understand those people and if they want her to do 
nyworl r, they ought to bring their board to me and tell me 
what they want and then I could give her the board 
a iid she would paint it and then she woul return it 
to me and they could pick it upfrom Yucca, Of course, what 
this is all about is just thisi They talk to her bout 
doing a Little £va or a Simon Legree or aft Uncle Tom, 
thinkin she knows what they are driving at, whereas in 
reality, she hasn t the vaguest notion as to what they 
are driving at and so cannon get to first base . 

It is interesting, in view of past relations with the 
Evanse3, that they haven't the courage to get their 
work done through me but they always act as though they 
might be taken for a million dollar ride, Their 
overseer, littlgEdgar Rogier, p ssed this way yesterday 
morning a bout 7 o'clock and I wondered what he was 
doing so far afield, Knowing he would spread the good 
news a bout 'Ghan a to the Wortham-Evans combination, I gav him 
a lopk and he explaimed that Ghan a would wipe 
Uncle 1 ‘om , 8 cabin off the map and that he thought 
the owners ought to come and see for themselves how they 
could treat their newly contrived cabin, The 
truth is that it is so gaunt in appearance that it can never 
be endowed with charm but if could be surrounded 
by an old fashioned garden what would, (tone down its roughness 
little and the thing, if rigged up properly inside, might 
l)e passable although it n ver could possess charm • And 
I should be glad to undertake all this for the 
general weal of the Parish but the Evans determination 
to forge ahead on their own hook will continue and the 
strange strain that has always characterized our relations will 
probably go on forever, 

There was no mail delivery today, of course, but aL though 
i is a national holiday, it didn't seem to be 
observed too thoroughly. Caryen called, and 
I % asked if the Red Cross wasn t observing the holiday but she 


Memorandum*. 


, sort of Inidiftd Summer, with the 
er 70's and tonight's full moon as 
oon is.supposed to be. 


Such a lovely day 
thermometer in the upp 
radiate as a harvest M 


I was both puzzled and provoked today when I failed to connect 
with Blythe who passed this way • I felt intuitively she was 
in the neighborhood and woul be coming to see me and as she 
is the one person on earth who .never seems able to catch up with me, 

I dr a ped a blanket a bout my person, for I was shivering in the 
pleasant sunshine, and prked my hips on the gallery where I 
remained two and a half hours until the telephone rang, calling me 
inside for 15 minutes . That, apparantly, as when she came, for 
at supper the clerk handed me a bottle of wine and some cookies she 
had left at ths store for me, following her unsuccessful 
attempt to find me, f 

1 

1 wanted to see her very much about some pecane recipes and I 
doubt if she gets up this way again before February or ^arch, L guess 
another r ason I am fulminating is because 1 should have 
preferred spending my afternoon in bed, had I not felt it imperative 
to be moseying bout to guarantee seeing her, I shall 
write her a letter tonight, touching on, among other things, the recipt 
I wanted to talk with her bout but since she is just like 
the Rocket and the Lost Word, she positiviely will not write a 
letter, much less a card, and so that refusal beings correspondence 
to a hal£ before it really gets started, 

.1 was busy all morning with appointments and so did not see Celesi 
who drove up fromAlexandria at 9, it is said, and then went on to townj 
and returned for dinner at her house and then headed back to Madam 
Regard right after dinner, c. 1 ' ^ ' *>•••••'»’« ' 

- bss . . esii- a Li"' us* e' vjabB&i.L&tt fri-ai. it2 

While I think of it, let me mention that Ji H . '■? 
told me the other day that the General's career with Ethyl come to ax at 


said the local office isn't, ° 

So much for a dull dab of doings, 
but let'8 hold the thought I.may be less dull on the morrow,,,. 










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10196 


10195 


November 15th, 1959 


on the 30th of November, what with the a ge limit of 65 in that 
company bringing relations to a halt automatically• I suppose 
both the juniors and seniors will continue living in ^atonRouge, 

■tonight the annual Chamber of Commerce dinner is being 
held, This year there will be both a Nan of the 
Year and a Woman of the Year, which 1 think is a s tep in the 
right direction, Jack Britton will receive the crown for the Nan, 
which is think is perfect. The choice for the lady is perfect, 
too, I forget her name b t she has been amazingly active during 
the past five years in civic good deeds. Five years ago she 
was strioken with cancer, Nothing coul be done about it except 
the exertion of will power that would keep her going and go she did 
with a remarkable vigor. It is thought she will not be here next 
year but I'm glad sl\e continues physically active and will 
be at the dinner tonight, t 

To hand a remarkable ^letter .from Bel Chockley uit ich 1 shall 
enclose if 1 can find, I was able to borrow a couple of 
Calico Cook Books to send her for England and Nirobe shipment 
and, if any more copies ever come to hand, 1 shall send the balance 
her order, Sometime after the holidays, if an opportunity should 
present itself to make a copy of what Bel had to s ay bout the 
CaneRiver Nemo, it might be nice to hoog a transcript 
of that paragraph to send along to The nterprise for its 
file in case something sould be d ne about incorporating 
some CaneBiver stuff in a book wherein the Chockley remarks might 
assist in formulating an Introduction, 1 mention this 

most particularly as a post holiday possibility and not to be 
dreamed of before, t 

Essae Mae .with her 65 Parish libraries, labored mightily and 
brought forth an order for 4 copies of the Calico Jiumber, 
which cannot be supplied for the present at least, 

A sort of r emarkable letter from Patty encloses the 
Bufour review of the Calico thing 

in last week Wednesday s New rlea3 States, I need the 
letter .for the address but wi\l send it aling as you will find 
it interesting ’bout her problems, her 

reason for writing, Bob's strange beh a voir and so on, *nd now l 
flatten out again . 


Memorandum: . .. 

Another lovely, warm day with a threat of a 
cold wave likely to hit us any. moment and the assurance 
we shall have a freeze o;i Saturday night• 

- i• t . . o 'ss-u . yvi i■ * ■ 

2ft is morning was another great waste of time because of 
the absence of any pep. While at my desk, along a bout 
8 this afternoon, however, I suddenly broke out into a 
wonderful sweat and all my aches and pains vanished, J 
have , accordingly donw a ton of work on this machine since 
then and continue feeling just fine, I take it my 
indisposition has indeed turned the corner • 

I dropped a note to Mr, Bodges this afternoon and enclose 
a carbon copy so that you m a y know what the espouse refers to,— 
if there should be one., Perhaps one reason why he and the 
Rocket and the lost Word get on so well is because they 
all three have at least one thing in common, —reluctance 
to answer a letter* X intended no veiled threat in my 
Hodges letter but I hope. 1 made it obvious that if 
I do not hear from Mr * H, "eventually .% I man set forth the 
idea in a letter. that will turn out to be a*. Memo* 

i, '■ ’ 9 fi 0 • . o ;,!• ce ' t 

And mention of. Memo reminds me that Mrs > Walker 'phoned to 
say she was s topped on the. street today by the owner of 
The American Store, whatever that is, on Front Street, the 
gent wanting to tell her how he never misses a Memo and that 
he was especially tickled by "Well, I swan,,,,,," And 
that just goes to show how wrong 1 can be in haying supposed that 
nobody, after encountering the reference to "Prime 
Mover, unmoved", would sve.r. get' a ny further. 

Carmen ’pponed this morning to say^Mrs, Lambre of 
the Joyous Qogst had just ’phoned her to say that she had 
just hung up from talking with the Melrpse store and was 
delighted to learn Mrs. Regard was sitting up in a wheel 
chair, H a lf an hour later, while dining with the clerk and J, H,, 















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10198 


10197 


eel* 


u tart: atJoVl t o»t 

I asked, fo news /from Madam Regard, J* H, said he 

had suggested to Celeste she be moved to ifhe nice neu>^ Natchitoches 

hospital b t Celeste had said that wouldn t make it 

so convenient for Avoyelles Parish people-to come to see her . 

Nobody ever seems to think if it would be any easier for J, H, 

to drive to town at the end of the 'day instead of going all 

the way to Alexandria . Casually I asked if the patient was 

able to 3it up any as yet and was told the sedation had not entirely 

disap peered and that a whiil chadr wasn t to be considered for 

days if not for weeks . How typical of wh,at happens in 

news transmission and where Carmen or Madame- Lambre, either 

or both, stirred up that wheel chair, nobody 

will ever know, "■ - 

:id .C,3" ■!' - 30 - - 

Another note from the. Pecane Shellers and Processors Associa¬ 
tion indicates that the decision on sponsoring a pecane 
book by that society will be acted upon shortly . I m 
not sure but I shall feel relieved of a n unpleasant obligation 
if the decision is in the negative for the continued 
silence from Ola Mae certainly brings to the surface a 
flock of unhappy possibilities if she should 
foil in tlie pecane book as she has- in the Calico^ one , At 
the same -tivie , * T doubt -if a nyone else at-an approximate 
price could: turn out the quality of workmenship as 
suggested'- by the Calico sample, used as a starting point 
with the pecane people, Trying to make some sense out 
of the present impasse, I find myself wondering if only 
a oouple of hundred Calico hoek3 were ever bound so 
that there re none to send me or anyone else while pressure 
from some other flock of dead-lines make supplying 
of Calico merchandise impossible• It must be admitted this 
is among the stranger ways to conduct a business but 
sometimes learns a little a 8 the years roll along although 
the learning doesn't seem to beget a ny greater comprehnsion, 


Sunday, November 15th, 1 59, 


The political pot continues boiling madly as December 5th 
approaches - slowly, at least', for radio listeners who 
long fo>r some other fare • Mr, Walke-r was telling me yesterday 
that the political horizon of Senator WillieRainaoh, the 
racial bigot, seems to be brightening. Mayor Morrison who 
is my choice for Governor has 48 publio relations people 
who aren't doing their job to t he point that often the ^ayor 
appears in a town to speak without a single advance 
notice of his intention to be in the community- preceeding him . 
Now, whatever speech results m a y certainly be classified turly 
enough as Lost Words for sure......... 


Memorandum 1 

Clammy weather, cloudy, cold and sprinkley, 

But Saturday's post brought a bundle of sunshine 
sufficient to dispell the •atmospheric gloom, 

Wednesday's letter from Lyme, of course, guanranteed 
a happy week end, enchanting me, as it did, with its vignettes 
ofdelights to give a rosey glow to life's panorama 
of particulars, seen to advantage from this vantage point. 

May L congratulate little '(iss Lee on her success 
in tracking down the copies of Scribners of more than a 
quarter of a century back . Nexy week's^post 
will be bringing the a rticle about ane^iver personalities 
to hand and I shall relish absorbing evety line, making 
mental notes as I go from personality to personality, fitting 
it post script notes as to the careers that extended beyond the 
limitations--of the article, now that the characters have 
either gone a long way or even jumped off into the 
great adventure of eternrity, 1 ** 

.And just as I finished the abvoe sentence, my 
telephone rang. It was Carmen with her insatiable thirst for 
being able tp s purvey bad news. She said , H, 
had attended the funeral of Senator Friedman s mother 
in town at a funeral home in town and that as he got 
into his car and started away, a huge truck bone down on him, 
smashing his car to pieces ,. Naturally 1 asked 
about J, an d s / te added, seemingly as an after¬ 
thought j : 1 ■ ’ 

"Oh,. 1 believe he wasn't hurt at all,,,,,,," 


No wonder J, H, didn't put in an appearance at 
supper, so: - ' >3 














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1C200 


10199 


ro^y. 


Monday, November 16th, 1959. 


I. S. Willard 'phoned this morning to say she 
was heading out for Baton Rouge and New Orleans and Baton Rouge 
at 18 noon. I concluded she was planning a bit of 
business in Baton^ouge, more business in New Orleans and thence 
back to Baton Rouge, which, indeed, was the correct in¬ 
terpretation. 'Hen she flied to Key West for a week to spend 
with her son and his amily before returning to 
Natchitoches for the Christmas festival on December 5th. 

After much forwards and backwards by way of many an "errrrrr. 
and "ahhlihhhhhhhh ." she finally conveyed the 

notion she would like to stop off here at 12:30 on her way south. 

said I should be delighted to see her. She arrived more or les3 

promptly at 2:25* She really _d dn't have time to 

pause, she explained but did want to skip over to Ghana 

to see the frieze and on her way back to Yucca she handed me 

ten dollars for some Calico Cook Books and seemed only 

vaguely disappointed that 1 had none. She 3aid 3he would 

pick them -up on her fre urn around the 1st of December 

if I happened to have, any by that late date. I told her 

that would be fine and handed her back the ten bucks but 

that confused her and she wanted me to keep the money so 

she would be sure to have the books. A game 

ensured concerning the disposition of the money, for 

she said she didn't want exactly, — I liked that word, —exactly 

five dollars plus five dollqrs worth of books but she did want, et 

etc., and, of cours,e, don t if I shall ever have any 

books at all, —and so the confusion that always 

-ttends a Sompayrac Willard pronouncement persisted and 

poor Irma finally got under full, sail again, but not before other 

Natchitoches pepple arrived bringing five Lake Charles people 

who are acquantances of the 0 hockleys arrived to take up the 

balance of my afternoon. 

Lt seems to me / had some random letters 
_ to be enclosed but l' not sure where they a re and I 
believe they were of ho particular interest anyway • • 

,,, t ford from Alexandria continues alpng the 
'"as well as could be expected" line. The Rands were busy 
a t the camp on Saturday, installing a huge 
butaine gas tank, seemingly to suggest that 
the introduction of heat may point the way to more 
frequent use of the place during the winter months . 


Memorandum* 

, , , V I v. ft • ( * ' 1 . 

Cloudy and cool with a promise for a freeze before 
dawn With 35 days still to run within the autumn bracket, 
it would appear winter is trotting ou its samples fairly far 
in advance of its official opening • 

I was entranced today when the postman brought another 
letter from Lyme, along with one or two from down BatonRouge way. 

The fact that dL 1 the secretaries got lost is merely a detail 
of course, but I look forward with delight to a frosty dawn that 
may be brisk enough to discourage field work but inviting 
enough to induce secretaries to get into the big road to mosey 
as far as Yucca and a beokoning butaipe. 

I am anticipating a carpenterter or two any day now to install 
the^hana frieze. I accordingly checked, over the various 
pieces going to make up that pictorial parade and I was 
perfectly enchanged with a^discovery in the execution of the desigti. 
Somehow it brought back a memory of Marybelle de Vargas, the 
one citizen Natchitoches numbered among its people, la 
de Vargas having been known to so many people as the girl without 
arms. And what reminded me of Marybelle was the discovery I made 
in the Ghana frieze for the east wall, —the Going to Church one, 
in which about 3 7 figures appear, —the discovery being that 8 
of the ladies appearing in that particular panorama are 
pure Mary belles, all 8eght, for none of these ladies are 
possessed of arms 

It seems to me quite a commentary on the colorful qual ity of 
the painting that nobody who has examined the work, —including 
I. S. Willard, more or less a professional Apt critic and on the 
State Art Commission, has ever noticed that these 8 ladies 
are armless • It is true these figures stand only a few inches 
high but they do occupy space immediately over the Ghana portal 
and therefore have already been and will continue to be seen by 
everyone• But it will take a blind mind to point out what 
is missing if the sighted are ever to discover the absence in 







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f 


1C 201 


this collection of 8 armless women, I think the whole business 
quite hilarious and I shall cite them as firstrate examples 
of how an artist knows what to eliminate without detracting from 
he value and interest in a composition, 

• 

I was glad to bump into Invitation to Learning tonight and 
wa 3 delighted to catch a glimpse of a book I had never read and 
n bout which I knew nothing. The title was "With * ire and 
Sword" and the author a Polish name I should never attempt 
to spell although it is probably well known because it is 
that of the author of "Quo V a dis". From what was said of the 

book, I felt quite sure it wa3 one ± should never care to read since, 
as the title implies, it was pretty much concerned with fire and 3Word, 
Another thing about the book which would make me 8hy away from it 
is the fact that it is an historical novel about a country, 

Poland, and a time, the 16th oenvury which, is a » impossible 
combination*for me, Poland has always been a jig-saw puzzle, ho8torically 
so far as my comprehension goes, which I have never been capable of 
putting together and T suppose I should marvel at the fact 
that even a few of the minor pieces of this vast and complicated 
puzzle should ever have appealed to me, each piece being so tiny 
and apparently so remotely related to the other parts, which a magician 
might be able to put^ together sufficiently to give some 
sort of a rounded picture.of the whole, 

I haven't heard Lyman Bryson serve as,chairman of these dis¬ 
cussions in some time, I have thought the chairman of the past 
few weeks excellent but his name eludes me, My only criticism 
of programs under his guidance is an occasional tendency of 
11 participants to get so animated that all three speak at 
the same time, making it difficult for such dull witted listeners 
as I seem to be, quite incapable of understanding a single thing any 
of the three may be trying to say when all three are sounding off at 
the same time, 

I have a couple of letters to write tonight and after that 
I think l shall put the Dutch oven to work on a toasted cheese sandwioh 
while I read a d a b from the Readers Digest,,,,,,,, 


10202 


r.osoi 


Tuesday, Uovember 17th, 19 59. 


A clear cold day and tonight it is freezing-, • 

*■ • ■ *' * . 

It was so nice starting off the day with the letter 
from Lyme arriving in yesterday's post, I a m so 
fond of these messages, giving me a quick look-see at 
the passing scene between opportunities for more prolonqed 
chats, 

Thi3 morning about 8, the overseer 'phoned from 
Little Eva, He said Mr, and Mrs, Evans had called from 
Lake St, John, asking him to check with me about the 
Little Eva stationary, ordered when I dined at Little Eva, 

What made me say such a thing, I cannot imagine but 

I found myself reporting that, as was true, *1 had passed 

the order along to the manufacturer several months ago 

and that I had a feeling deliver would probably reach me by 

today 3 post and that I would call him back at 11 and 

let him know, I called him b a ck at 11 a nd t - 

told him that, as anticipated, the note paper had 

arrived, I wish I had a recording of Miat conversation 

to discover if his voice or mine registered more surprise, I 

asked if he wished the material sent to Little Eva or to Houston, 

He suggested I hold it on the theory the .ivanses might 
be passing this way and would perhaps like to 
come this way to pick it up, Perh a ps they want 
to come this way to confer with the artist and perhaps 
they want to come this way to get a look at Ghana, 

Be that as it may, their noTe paper is ready for•them here and 

I still laugh in my beard every time I think of 

the outlandish possibility I had mentioned so casually 

that really came to pass, I'm wondering if another 

shock awaits me in the offing in the form of some Calico c ook 

Books arriving prior to Christmas, But that would really be too much. 





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10204 


10203 


At supper tonight, I asked if Celeste had returned, 

J, H, said he had somehow expected her to run up today but 
so far 03 he knew, she had not. He mentioned having 
inquired about a place for Madam Regard at the town 
hospital but nobody seems quite sure if bringing her up 
this way will suit or not, 

J, H, said there was a picture of the General in 
'■The Morning Advocate today. He is being given a 
dinner on the 82nd, prior to his retirement fromEthyl, 

J, H, still thinks both sets of S, C,'s will come up for 
the 'hanksgiving week end. Under the circumstances, 
this all seems to be a time that might lend 
itself to greater quiet than the hubbub usually 
attending such visitations but that is for others to 
worry about, 


Wednesday, Hovember 18th, 1959. 


The enclosure speaks for itself as regards the 
publisher about whom 1 had asked, Somehow the report 
doesn t seem very different from the pattern I am currently 
encountering, I appreciate this 

report no end since it provides ne with the assurance that 
I should do wellto be particular in whatever arrangements 
I may make, especially with the Pecane people regarding 
publicationIf the Pecane people do agree 
to sponsor the publication, I think I shall ask them to 
sign on the dotted line, nRot with me but with the 
publisher, so that once I have supplied a‘text, my work 
will be done and whatever hair-pulling there is to be done 
a bout deliveries, it can be carried on between *the Pecane 
people and the publisher rather than through me • 


knowing little Cammie, He siad he didn t know when 
Ol„ Mae was planning to get down this way. He said 
Carolyn is in Hew Orleans, If Carolyn is in Hew Orleans 
and somebody knows where she really i3, that ought to be 
stamped as remarkable, 

At supper tonight, J, H, said Celeste came in this 
afternoon a nd is remaining tonight. He sayeth further 
that she is making plans to bring Madam Regard home to 
stay within a few days. He had his doubt3 about this 
working out to the satisfaction of either lady, feeling 
that a hospital would be more to j*adam Regard s liking 
a nd convenience for a while at least, I reckon he is wondering 
where people will be found who will guarantee 84 hour 
attention for the patient % It will be interesting to 
see how this works out S,emehow it seems to presuppose 
two elements difficult to envision in the past, —an 
ability to find a permanent companion and an 

inclination to spend less time in the big road. Since miracles 
do happen occasionally, however, I suppose we might just 


I am glad that Ora continues with her plans for a 
couple of months in Europe this spring, &he now plans flying 
directly to Rome, and thence by air to eneva 
or Lausanne and so on to Paris where she will pause for 
a feW'Weeks at the Cr till on where she ought to be comfortably 
housed, 1 should think and convenient^to everything, too, 
if one accepts the Place de la Concorde as the 
center of the city, Then she will go on to Oxford 

for a six week's course with a.dab of boating to surrounding neighborh 
he plans returning across the Atlantic by boat, giving her 
time to catch her breqth nefore touching t)omc b a se again 
The best part of her trip is that she isn t going to try to 
see too much but rather to absorb what few places she does visit . 













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10205 


10206 


hursday, November 19th, 2959. 


J. H. a lso said he had a letter from Joe who is 
currently in Washington, D. C. where he is brushing up on 
the R. %. A.. Telephone division, being scheduled to go into 
that branch of R. E. A, inArkansas shortly, —perhaps with 
the beginning of the Hew Year • Joe is threatening to spend 
a couple of weeks here beginning December 18th I assume this 
means Juanita A. may be expected to come over here for the holidays an 
all this may discourage Shreveport visitations Already one oontemplat 
the advent of 19 60 with so much impatience • 

The 'phone just rang, ft was Mrs. Walker, calling 
from the office while waiting for the paper to go to 
press • She didn't have much news although she did 
mention having seen Charles Cunningham on the street and 
he had remarked that he had been planning to go to Yucatan for 
a vacation but got cold feet when he heard of the 
airplane with 41 a bourd that had crashed into the Calf the 
other day. 

• 

Whife at Ghana this afterneon, 1 discovered that in spite 
of last night's hard freeze, the verbeana around the old 
wash pot was still blooming mightily . I was impressed by 
its hardihood and attributed .its survival to the prob a blyility 
that the heat which the stones, supporting the pot, may have 
staved off the cold . ,Thinking it wiser not to tempt 
Fate any further., I rounded up a couple of wheel¬ 
barrows of fine cotton hull3 and bedded down the verbeana a bit, 
thinking they migh luxuriate a little in such protection against 
Jack Frost right now and that when next summer and a bailing 
sun 'got turned on, the cotton hullls would provided a blotter to 
hold, the nigh ,ly dews and damps which would delight the aforesaid 
verbeana in that capacity, too • 

» 

From such activities, I conclude that my recent bout with 
the flu must h a ve about come to an end . One thing is certain, I 
feel quite different from a week ago and I find myself 
quite impatient for the weather to warm a little more so 1 may 
get to digging in a. dozen different undertakings more or less alll 
at the t same time • 

It's half an hour yet before news time and so 1 think 
I shall skim through a few pages of the November Readers Digest 
before calling it a day • I seem to be so far behind 
in literary pursuits.. . 


Memorandum j 

« » • v x ■ ■ ‘ 

Clear and warmer, with the sane promised for the morrow • 

I hope I am correct in counting myself in luck, on 
the theory that a column which I just wrote really appeared 
on the paper and dig not fade out,, as did the memo to Dyme, 
just written, whjch I discover, on removing from this 
machine, gives every indication that the type didn't track 
at all* 

% s 4 t 

I shall attach the memo to this one but shall assume 
it cannot be read and so shall repeat myself. 

I was pleased to have a letter from Mr. Hodges, indicating 
that he liked the idea of purchasing the Los Adais property. 

Because he mentioned his pleasure in receiving the 
Enterprise which he thinks 1 sent him but which, in fact, 
the Enterprise sent him on a six month's subscription, I have 
passed the letter along to the Enterprise, a sking it be returned 
to mee, and on its receipt, 1 shall pass it along to 
Lyme so that the matter of Los Adais may be glanced over • I do 
hot want the letter back • 

The great advantage of Mr. Hodges purchasing and restoring 
the Los Adais ..property is obvious, If I got behind 
some civic group to engineer the job, a campaign would 
have to be inaugurated to raise money for the purchase of 
the land comprising a large acreage • Thig^interest in 
the property or possibly properties, - -I think there 
are at least two tracts of s everal- hundred, possibly several 
.PtOUSQUd acres, wou'l immediately impell the present owners 
to skyrocket the values • If, in spite of that, the 
purchase could be effected, it would be a strain to get 









From rhe FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers, #M-3889 In the Southern Historical Collection, 
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10207 


1C 208 


Thursday, November 19th, 2959# 


sufficient funds to acquire it and there mould be nothing 
for the restoration, Mr, Hodges i3 the only person 
I know with sufficient millions^ to acquire and restore, 

he public mind has about reached the point where it might 
be interested in such aproject but L 03 Adai3, —"flue at r a Senora del 
Pilar de Lo3 Adais,. —what a name, but the place has 
dways occupied an anomolous position, as between Texas and 
Louisiana, Texas has always been interested in the place but 
a.8 it stands some 50 or 7 5 miles inside the Louisiana 
boundary, Texas has been hesitant about purchasing it, Louisiana, 
on the other hand, notorious for letting her own historic 
landmarkp dwindle and decay and disappear, has never manifested 
the slightest interest in the place that for 50 years was 
the capitpl of Texas, I hold tfje thought the present 
effort may turn the trick and I m delighted in the Hodges 
interest, 

I find Irma O'Brien's letter nice but artfully constructed, 
for she and ■£ both must forever keep in mind that others seeing 
our correspondence may not have the same friendly frame of mind 
existing as between her and me, t 

Today's post brought a fine pound cake from Mrs, Spinks 
of Crockett, Texas, I scarcely know these people whom 1 have 
met but twice, —once for about five minutes last summer and 
once again amidst several hundred people last Pilgrimage, I 
shall acknowledge rqoeipt of the letter, card and cake tonight, 
and I shall probably begin my letter by sayinQx 

"Dear Lady, 

It's a lie, —pardon me, - when I read the 
statement that the cake will last indefinitely 

I have already seentq it that the cake is already disappearing 
and I feel quite sure it will not survive the week end. 


Memorandum• 

Clear-clear and pleasantly warm with the 
sere thinyprer'i’sed ftr ■'he r..e: - tw. 


Tf, 

<f T:C J 1 

res »n *he 

i.'rert 

*i-red 

Up ''r -'t. 

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fr - • v 

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' roej J 

'■T if 


' V 

r- ~ch • 

' r ' xr i ‘ah 

° .. 


he ?:''e he e’'i-:red '' re t rd - hr? 1 


. " o' ru. 

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fa ' 

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he *>• ? 

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p.r t , • f 

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w 

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T.' x f ■ 


'p, .; t 

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« ■ 




I saw Celeste this yarning for a fewminutes but other people 
were there and so I didn t learn much, A bed with an adjustable 
set of springs ha3 arrived in anticipation of M adam Regard's return 

but no bydy seems to know when that will be. And so to 
tonight 3 mail and may this ribbon behave,,,,,,,, 







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R0S31 


10209 


10210 


Friday, November 80th, li-59. 


■ • '. . 1 ? 


fn 

r * J 


"1 ■ •» i<. 3 " which isn't very definite, Celeeate 

returns to Cabrini on the morrow to be with her mama for the 
webk end, it is said, 

f he Natchitoches imes failed to appear last night and 
isn t out yet. One wonders what is cooking or if nothing is. 


Memorandum : 

• » * 0 1 

A lovely, mild, cloudless day. 

And the post held 8Uch a promise of fllicity in the 
arrival of the Scribner's artic le which I shall have an 
opportunity to read on the -morrow and relish, I am just 
amazed to discover in what excellent condition a magazine of 
such an advanced age,'as magazines go, should still be in 
such perfect condition, — 0 s fresh as though just off 
the'press, 1 h a nki to little Miss Lee's thoughtfulness, 

I could open the magazine to the article of especial 
interest and immediately discover some familiar faces in 
- the sketches, It will be so nice being able to dive into the 
gift on the morrow and after exploring its contents, add it to 
the shelf of tresors for reference in times to come. 

The *surprise news of the day was the death of the son-in-law 
of the Joel Fletchers, Their daughter has one child ayear or so 
old and another born a day or two ago. Their son-in-law who is 
with an oil company, —or lias, - was in a plane flying from 
New Orleans to Houston or the other way around, along with 
two other men in the same company, *he plane catapulted into 
Lake Pontchartrain and all three men 'perished. 

Celeste mentioned it at the coffee 'hour, ^he said ordinarily 
she would be sending flowers but she and J, H, had to begin 
saving money against defraying future costs for Madam Regard's 
recuperation costs. Imagine, She sorcT she was leaving 
before 10, returning to Alexandria where she supposed she 
would be staying for two or three day*, She observed that 
the General's wife had invited her to dine with her in Alexandria 
and that she was hastening in that direction to make the 
most of such an invitation, not knowing how many invitations 
she would have to decline in 'the future. When Madam Regard 
returns here, a d a ugh er-in-law of Aphonse Uetoyer has 
a sked to have the joB of staying nights with u adam Regard, The 
wife of the plantation cattle man, a practicle nurse, has volontee 1 


IffifekriYi 1 rirl ■ml 
















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10211 


10212 


Sunday, November 22nd, 1959, 


to spend time with Madam Regard any or all times of the day. My 
conclusion is that the yo nger lady is going to be J reer than 
formerly which certainly was comparatively unfettered. 

And so J. H. dined with us at the big house this noon and 
at supper tonight, he ate very little because he was going to 
Alexandria to dine with his brother, Steve and their respective 
wives 

On the Ghana front, a couple of carpenters worked this morning 
and installed the south and the west friezes, I must say they look 
as nice a s I had anticipated. ^he c arpenters had to go to 
town this a fternoon but say they will finish the east and north 
friezes tomorrow morning and that will that. 

I got a mild jolt today when in the mail 1 discovered 
post card bearing the cancellation of Poplarville, Mississippi • 

In view of the recent talk about the Charles Max Parker case, 
Poplarville was one place from which I expected nothing, I suppose 
• it may be someone asking for gourd seeds as I seem to be forever 
receiving such request from down that way. 

Little King returned toddy fromColorado Springs where he went 
to re-enlist'a week ago. Me gets a month's vacation and then 
goes to Columbia, SoiithCaroIina. Doreath s boy, 

n strapping youth of 18, failed to make the grade m his attempt 

at enlistment, mdde at the same time Little King returned to 

service, Bill's brother, Lee, stout as an ox and nearly 

7 feet tall, also failed when he tried to enlist and so 

were all of Boreath a 's brothers turned down by the draft 

during the war, and all of them such perrect physical 

specimens, —Little Robert, Attrice and Emmett, —something 

which always puzzled everybody who knew anything at al 1 about 

the military, "ill, for his part, is in 'his last year of high 

30 I 100 I a n d a'pparantly in the pink of condition, it makes 

all this rejection business for him and his r elatives seem so odd. 

I 3 hall write Mr. Hodges a pep letter on the Los Adais business 
tonight and 1 eve this open so you may have the carbon to keep 
a breast of the correspondence. Mrs. Vfalker says she is 
glad to know of the inoeption of my plans, ki\swing perfectly ioell 
. that when it leaks out, Peyton Vunningham will shortly be preening 
his feathers as the originator. Smile .••••••• 


Memorandum j 

A lovely^ day, sunny and sufficiently warm to make it 
pleasant to 'have all doors and windows open. 

o - 

t has been comparatively quiet, too, and 1 liked 
that. Yesterday Camen's sister, 'phoned to ask if she andCarmen 
might run down to pick up a Hunter primitive they had on 
order for their 3i8ter-in-law inBatonRouge. hey might. 

They got here at 4;30 and as we supp at 5 this t ime of the year, 
their visit was only three quarters of au hour in length. 

As they left, Edgar Rogier, Jr., overseer of Little Eva, 
who had been chatting with J. H. and the clerk at the supper 
table, came to see me. He said the Evanses had been to Little Eva 
earlier in he week but hadn't been able to stop off at Melrose 
a nd had asked them to pick up the primitive note paper 
for them and forward it to Houston. I didn t tell him I 
knew the Evanses had got as close to Yucca as the artist's house. 
From what the overseer had to say, I gather that in "la casa d'onoh 
Tom", the Eva\ ses have a bear by the tail and although pressed to 
do something, they don't, know what it is they should do. It seems 
they are distressed that now people h a ve learned that they have re¬ 
built Uncle Tom's cabin,. people are flocking there a nd most of them 
leave the place, complaining that while it may no be a fraud, 
a t least there isn t anything interesting enough about the 
place to warrant a visit. 1 he Evanses feel something has to 
* be done to make the place attractive to pil rims forthwith but 
can t think what needs being done. They told the overseer to do 
anything I told him to do by way of bringing the 
hing to aproper pitch. I told him that while, 
as from the conference prior to the erection if the uilding, 

I was ready to lend them a hand by way •/ ideas but that 
I should do so only after consulting with them abou it. He 
implored me to see them so that he could carry out whatever I wantei 
done. He t feels very strongly, even as do the Evanses, that 
there isn t a day to lose. I agree with them, so far as 
they a re concerned but time, so far as the^cabin is con¬ 
cerned, isn t pressing me at all and I can afford to wait 
"forever. I-think the Evanses such nice but such strange people, am 













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10213 


10214 


BJLSOl 


although 1 3hall always be glad to help them, I shaL 1 not do a thiti 
until they get alittle sens® and, if they wait my help, contact 
jne about the matterhe overseer says they have instructed himti 
anything 1 3ay but if they haven't the inclinati on to discuss 
the matter with me, then I have no intention of giving 
instructions for their imployee to carry out my recommendations, 

Ihe joke i3, 1 believe, that although always ready to expend any 
n m oum of money on their projects, they seem to be possessed of sov 
unholy fear that I might send them a bill for professional 
services of which I have never had the vaguest intention of doing, 
Perh a ps they are the type that thinks cn ything can be bought a nd th 
assume that nobody has anything to share and, for some strange 
quirk, would prefer to stumble along, getting a repulsive cabin 
on thfiir back they cannot get off a nd at a high price, instead of 
accepting the gifts I have to offer, The older I grow, the more 
impressed I am at how incapable some people are in being able to 
accept with grace, 

I am enclosing the Hodges correspondence under separate cover s 
you may keep up with that train of thoughtThings Spanish, a nd 
especially Bapnish colonialism has never- interested me much but I t 
I shall set my hand to doing something 7 bout the Governor's 
Palace and gardens . if the Hodges effort to acquire the tract qoes 
through, 

ft » 

1 am a little puzzled as to why Essue Mae wrote me, asking 
me to send aCalico ook Book to her personally, along with a bill, 
If she wants to buy a Calico CookBook, really wants to buy one, 
er* 1 atle /las to do is pick up her 'phone and call a Baton 
Rouge book store and hav it on her desk in 10 minutes, I h a ve 
sent her.a copy, nevertheless, bearing a brief inscription but 
naturally without a bill, After all» she has the price of the book 
in he letter 1 sent her when she'inquired about it, prior to 
ordering for the libraryI can t believe she is the type who is 
trying to get a volume for nothing and yet, since she knows the 
price and the books are available in BatonRouge, it 
seems odd she should go to the trouble to write me. 


t 1 had thought Blythe might put in an appearance this 
week end, what with the weather being so pleasant and 
no need existing for the newly installed heating system at the 
camp but she didn't appear, Like other people of whom 
we hav heard tell, she obviously has no time for writing 
and may be expected t to pop in unannounced whenever 
the^impulse strikes her, And somehow that reminds me of Irma O'Bri 
letter, askings, bout -phe publisher of the Calico number, and I did 
refer to that part of her letter when responding,,,,,,,, 

, •< - 


Monday, November S3rd, 19 59. 


Memorandumi 

Cloudy and warm with an occasional sprinkle, 

When I went to feed the dog tonight, 1 was 
surprised to find Celeste there, I suppose she must 
h a ve come in during the mid afternoon, She said.Madam Regard 
is sitting up but is having bladder difficulties, - an 
old complaint which, along with her arthritie§ will 
prob a bly complicate her broken hip recuperation, 

• j * - 0 fs \ ;V £ v 5; \ , ? s j.. \ A* 

Celeste goes to town tomorrow and then returns to 
the Alexandria post, probably f or the balance of the week. 

She said she had had dinner twice with Ban and June 
and that June s little boy, born out of wedlock, was there, 
along with the three girls, most.of whom, I believe, were 
born within wedlock, I understood "that June works which 
seems odd, with four small children which ought to be a job 
in itself, 1 should think. As I understand it, and I 
understand Very little or nothing at all in that set-up, 
the former husband and wife are f legally separated but 
continue living together, it would seem, Hum m m m, 

J, H, seems to be in a good frair\e of mind as usual. He 
continues laughing because the General's wife is so mad 
with the BatonRouge Morning Advocate because in the 
articles in that paper a bout the General s retirement from 
Ethyl, the wife isn i mentioned, J, H, says the 
General will give hi3 son a hand in the insurance business 
„ nd so will, of course, remain in pi»n Rouge • 

I was happy today when the postman brought 
me a Talking Bo'ok, read by A, Scourby,—the book 
being to my liking, too, 1 am sure, —Energies of Art by 
Jacques Barzun, a writer I always enjoy, I hopfi to 
sample a page or two before folding up my beard tonight. 









■ 


■yr-*c •, ' ' 


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10215 




10216 


Tuesday, November 24th, 1959, 


I have given some thought to the possibilities 
of Los Adais while digging in the good earth during the day, 

I should like to have a go at putting that place onthe 

contemporary map• I envision the restoration readily 

enough, what with the *o ernor's residence resembling 

Yucca* As £■ conoeive the layout, the building would 

look much like Yucca on one side, of which there weruld be 

three other sides, making a quadrangle, It would be as 

though^the three 3ides of the Yucca white garden were enclosed 

in buildings, forming a rectangle in the center, about the 

size of the greensward of the white garden, the other buildings 

occupying the space at Los Adais that the iamboo hedges occupy 

at Yucca, I would recommend the Governor's residence be made 

a museum, the other three sides or buildings be made 

to house a tea and gift shop, one side for offices and an apartment 

for the curator, and the fourth side, to be called the 

Counoil Chamber, done in Slnish colonial style, suggesting 

the former Governor's Council chamber but arranged so that 

civic groups might meet there, balls given, movies show, etc,, etc, 

I would suggest a second set of uildings, also forming a 
square, atttaohed to the back of the first square, which could 
be used of housing servents, storage rooms, garage, etch etc,, 
and this second square or rectangle having its cloistered courtyard, 
even as the first. 

The point would be to make the whole thing suggest a household 
of a Spansih overnor might look like in the first quarter 
of the 18th century; but not insist on stalls for horses and sue like 
but rather employ such space for cars and h a y lofts and fodder storage 
for garage do-dads,, <■' ' * 

If Mr, Hodges can acquire the site, it will be interesting 
trying to convince him hour my plans would fit neatly into what 
is required to suggest the past and make it donvenient for the 
present, . 1 

B O y •. 0 > 04 

Well, 30 much for such speculation and I apologise for 
thinking 3Uch dull thoughts out loud, Perh a ps I shall do better 
on the morrow, I liked tonight's invitation to Learnina 
about a book I never heard of by a lady named Henry Hichardson .. 


Memorandum j 

A lovely Indian Summer's day and the promise 
of more just like it on the morrow and on 
• Thanksgiving, 

Today's post brought me a card portraying the 
finest turkey gobler you ‘ever saw , It is sitting 
here on my desk before me, doing a bit of a shimmy with 
every touch y>f the keyboard, I shaL 1 be reading the 
message it contains at secretarial time on the morrow. 

Of course there will be no out-going mail 
o}f Thursday and so this memo will be mailed onWednesday 
a nd the next one will get to the Post Office on 
Friday, *■ 1 

I continue hearing nothing from the Lost Word but 
I am in no hurry to do so for I should like to 
h a ve til's Introduction for the Uncle x om book ready 
when I see her and that I do not have at the moment, 

I sent the manuscript to James for editing and 
he sent back a version that eliminated everything 
that seemed characteristic of me, I was a little 
surprised at so many eliminations and although grateful 
for the insertionsa little disappointed tn the 
uninspired tone that seemed to replace all the phrases 

that had been eliminated, 

i\}\ v, a. i.. • • • * y * • 

• I asked for a return of the oringinal script and 
re-read it, finding it better for the purpose I have in 
mind than the new version he had built around it, 

I have asked Mrs,Walked to use her shears on both 
mansucripts, cutting aid pasting as seems best to her, 
and I trust her judgement in such matters, *ut, naturally, 






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1C 217 



10218 


Wednesday, November 25th, lv5d, 


she is quite busy, what with the Christmas fe.stival <and 
holiday matters just ahead and so she has asked to if keep 
it until January 8th, and so I don t care if I *X**'+" 
the Lost Word any before then I reckon there wouldn t 
be much likihood of seeing her anyway, 

This void is perhaps quite casual enough in the 
way she handles her problems but it is so new to me, I 
an V wondering if I could hope to get as good a publishing deal 

a* as reasonable a price if I decided to f J ^TtraUons 

publish the pecane thing, I shall need no 

from the Rocket on the pecane book but I should need some 

from theRocket on the Un'cle T om thing, -This 

w ole desert of silence from Shreveport seems to 

be so unbusines3 like, 

If the L os Adais thing should transpire , —and I shall 
not speak to either of the girls about it prior to 
hearing from Mr, Hodges a bou it, and if, as seems tana 

probable I am asked to lend a hand to inaugurating olid setting 
the whole project in motion, the news should give the girls 
quite a start since both will probably be quite concerned wi 
pullicity endeavors following in it3 train, 

I got around to do a bit of reading last night from Energies 
of Art by Jacques Barzun, I don’t know much about the 
appropriateness of the title of the book but I guess it 
is as good as any'other title although Invitation to 
Learning would suit it as well, since it (p pears to be 
a collection of criticisms of excellent quality. 1 

liked the one 1 read on Goethe and his aust, Lord yron 
and De a n Swift, I certainly admire Barzun 
for his pleasant presentation of hi3 erudition, There 
Appears to be no Jalbe of Contents and so I do not know what 
subject matter awaits me when I getaround to have pother go 
at things tonight, 

I shall be thinking of 'doings at Lyme on Thurscay, holding 
the thouqht that little Miss Lee may at leq.pt get a_moment s 
breathing Spell during the single day ore office respite . 


Memorandum : 

A lovely day, warm but refreshing, thanks to 
a spanking breeze from the Gulf, 

Celeste returned to Alexandria this noon, I had coffee with 
her at 9. She seems more relaxed, She was .touched by the 
card, from Lyme, —"A Thought and a Prayer", and again I marveled 
at the way little Miss Lee always succeeds, in spite of all the 
pressures upon h r, of getting just the proper application 
of the heart to any and all problems and circumstances, 

I . »*V • , •; ■;» \ *• • • ■ * ' 14 

Tonight's radio talks about scads of grass fires in 
North Louisiana a nd from Qentral through eastern Texas, and 
plenty of farm houses and suburban dwellings going up 
in smoke. There seems to be so much fi>re and smoke 
around Marshall ^ The unusual dryness of the season, the absence 
of humidity, --it was down to 19 percent today, so unusual 
for thisarea, plus the strong breeze from the south seems to 
dombine to sweep grass fires with remrk a ble speed • One 
case was mentioned wherein a stretch of several miles 
of pi sture, woodland and hedge rows were burning violently with 
human effort to smother or deflect the course impossible. One 
naturally wonders if the absentee farmerette is in that 
a,rea or p dozen other places, 

Essae Mae will be amazed to learn that I am amazed 
to read a letter from her in today's post, beginning, 

"I an agamzed to- learn y.pu and Clementine Hunter got out 
n cook bo ok,,,,,,,," * 

I shaL 1 pen her a line, explainin that my 
amazement is the greater because I sent her a copy of the 
Hunter opus when it cp peared. She politely acknowledged 
its receipt and ordered^four copies for the library I shall send 
her a copy by the next post bu I shall not p rmit myself 
to write, as my impulse quite naturally would 
impell met 

, v "Who's looney now . " 










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nisi) i 


10219 


1 


10220 


Today marked the conclusion of this year's banana business, 

The forest in front of Yucca fell readily though under the 
whacks of some old Janapnese swords, even as did the bosquets 
on the east and west side of theAfrican House, in front of Hr. Utile\ 
and off in the direction of Ghana, I showed my helpers how 
to let them fall in a single direction but they got 
much more fun just slashing them right and left so that they 
would fall every old johioh way. They all had great fun while 
it lasted but when the next move began, —that of hauling 
the thi.ngs out, the tune was different and they had the un¬ 
pleasant, soppy, me.ssy job of trying to untangle the 
invididual stalks and dragging them to. the truck, It was an all 
day's job and at its close a couple of the strong arms and 
hard heads volonteeered the opinion that their day's labor 
would have been easier if they had let all the stalks fall in 
one direction , I gathered that experience, although not often, 
sometimes really does teaoh. 

I got a little reading done last night before my head 
began nodding, I like Jacques Bar sun I rea>d his 
essay on Stendhal, done in the usual r well turned Barsun 
fashion, but on a subject of little or-no-, interest to 
me for I was never able to get very far with Stendhal. I 
was amused when arzun remarked that Hollywood is said to have 
purchased the rights to Rouge et lloir and Barzun wondered 
from whom the rights might have been purchased since the copyright 
must have run out at least half a century beck or longer, If 
Hollwyood ever decides to do the 'Trojan War, 1 suppose they will 
purchase the rights from. Homer's descendants, Smile, But 
seriously, isn t it rather remarkable, in view of all 
the biblical s tuff Cecil B, de Mille did 

that he never a ttempted Homer, Perhaps, in contrast to the 
''job of building the pyramids, the re-creating of the Parthenon 
was just too easy, ........ 

There were two or three telephone calls today from people who he 
read this week's Cane Biver Memo and liked it but I suspect 
that most of them, having heard that Lucy Straughn who pulled 
the boner about the moth hole, may not like Lucy much and so 
were delighted to laugh at the implied slap I 
administered in the column, i- 

I shall set this aside to enclose it in tomorrow's 
memo covering the attack on.the great American bird,,,,,,,. 


Th ursday, November 26th, 1959. 


Memorandum: 

Another likely day with a brisk breeze blowing through open doors and 
windows. A slight sprinkle about 9 tonight seems to have cooled things 
off a little and dampened, the considerable number of grass and forest fires 
through this area. 

I am using this machine because it chances to be conveniently 
to hand and it probably produces a script a little more readable. 

It is pleasant to report Thanksgiving has been quiet enough 
to suit a recluse and as nobody along the river seems to 
do much, if anything, about Thanksgiving, the day seemed much like any other 
day of the work-a-day-week. 

J. H., Eugene and I dined and supped alone and I liked it. We 
had roast pork, very well prepared and I liked it. One of the 
mulatto neighbors had made a sweeet potato* pie and sent a round and it was as 
delectable as a pumpkin which it tasted like 

I was glad to be able to glance over some correspondence. I thought 
Helen's letter characteristically entertaining and 
Kay's informative as usual. 

Helen's reference to Hohn Nance Garner brought back memories 
of the first t o F. D. R. Administrations and somehow that seems so far 
back in the dark ages, so far as Mr. Garner is concerned, possibly 
because he stepped down so comparatively soon and faded more or 
less into the background rather rapidly, so far as my concept of 
his activities in the years following his withdrawal from politics. 

As for Kay's letter, it really struck me as though she is 
getting more stable in her decision to "stay put", and when stacked up 
against the information from Irma that she and Farley would be going to the 
Bluff so Aunt Willie wouldn't be alone, the inference from Kay's letter that 
she has decided to remain at Baton&ouge sounds all to the good. 








Francois Mi6non Papers. #M-5889 


Friday, November 27th, 1959 


Memorandum s 

, Cloudy and cool with a freeze scheduled for tonight 
I m glad we didn’t get at y of the s ow that viattedShrev . 
this morning, 

It was so good to discover an air mail rom Lyme 

in toda Vs post, I'm porry the dark cloud has been cast 
over the hearts of friends and hence your won hearth thi. 
week,' How generous is the friendship that can bring a 1 
candle to those deepest in distress in such trying times 

Having a couple of workmen who needed " inspiration" 
accomplished, I have spent some time laboring myself out 
afternoon, interpserpsijig labors with relaxations in 
attending to people, bent on sight-seeing over the week < 


a notation that the Post Office has been enable to deliver it, it 
is impossibl for me to guess where she is hiding. I am glad that 
it is in a airplane and I pray the Lord Kay may believe that. 

I am puzzled to learn from Kay that she had never had any 
Primitive Note Faper. I should have sworn I gave her end Aunt H illie 
seme when they were here a year ago but "1 must be mistaken. I am 
quite sure I sent some to New Orleans along about that time but I reckon 
that delivery was made b while Kay was still in California and 
so they may have been used up before her return. Well, 
anyway, I shall put some in the mail for her, along with a Calico number 
by tomorrows post. 

While at Ghana around 9 o'clock this morning, I was delighted to 
see Juanita B. and offspring approaching. She and Pat were going to dine w J 
her mother and had come down to spend the morning here. We went back 
to Yucca and tiny Taine looked so remarkably small in the bir old 
four poster where she napped until 11:30 when the f-mily departed. 

He had quite a nice opportunity to canves the local 
situation and discovered we both view things on the home front in 
about the same ight. I couldn't help smiling in my beard when 
she asked me if I tb didn't think it lamentable that the lady 
across the fence should be making such strange noises about pinching 
every penny. She said the lady's friends in town were so amazed at the 
ever increasing emphasis about poverty, the joy experienced in having 
bought clothes recently that would stand her in good stead in 
the lan times ahead, etc., etc. I think her husband 

, would really feel shame-faced if he had any notion at how loud and long the 
ridiculous tune is being played. 

Well, so much for a report on today's Thanksgiving and I, for one, 
am so thankful for Lyme and a heart that beats in such harmony. 






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10223 


when delivering the Calico Cook Book the other day. Colonel Morns 
volonteered the information that the Rocket was spending the 
week end of Thanksgiving with her papa, Although it is none of 
my business where the girj.8 spend their week ends, ± shoiid like 
to know but never shal if the 0 olonel dropped the word m 
accordance with instructions or if he, like Kay, believed what 
he was reporting., especially in view of the fact that 
I haven't 3 een or heard from either traveler since Pil nmage, uotobt 
10th or Uth, and that the Lost Word was strong on bringing out 
the ncle Tom item so it wuld be on thq market by 
week from tomorrow aL though she hasn t come for 
the script or a discussion of details 

If anything was said during your cont a ct with the ladies about 
Los Adais, I shall be glad if you will mention the matter. 

As I haven't communicated with them since my dcy with Mr, Hodges , thi 
would not know about the subsequent Los Adai matter unless there had 
been a "leak" through the Hodges office which I doubt. If 
they do know bout the matter, it is> perfectly alright, for 
they are bound to learn a bout it sooner or later, but if anything 
was dropped n bout it, I shall be glad to learn," 


Sunday, November 29th, 1959 


Memorandum : 

Clear and cold but withal quite pleasant as a winter's 
week end although winter supposedly is still three 
weeks off, 

I haven't so much as glanced in the direction of 
Saturday’3 mail which , didn't look very interesting an\fway. 

Two secretaries came yesterday while Natchitoches was present 
and one came today when old Kansas wa3 making the rounds, and 
as the local honkey-tonks are already bearing down hard on the 
dwindling earnings of the local workers, the rough house going 
on in those poor men's clubs last night and tonight are 
providing too much entertainment for the secretaries for 
me to entice, assistance for mere paper work, and so it will be 
for perhaps one more week after which I shall probably be deluged 
with proffered help, what with cotton aid pecanes having run out 
and money sources dried up utterly. •• • 

On Saturday afternoon, helma Kyser called me for a 
little chat, &he said John had left in the morning for 
Louisville, Kentucky, and during his absence, she was 
culling hi3 wardrobe a»c^ throwing out shirts and things, 

I suggested she thrown them in my direction, &he liked the 
idea and in the middle of the afternoon, she and her daughter, 
Janet, down from Shreveport for the week end, suddenly appeared 
at my door. They were bearing many items of clothing which I 
shall be able to dispense to the greatest advantage before the 
ensuing month as played out, 

I think Thjslma follows her husband's lead in many 
lines of ende a vor, including politics. She asked me about 
the popularity of one or another ubernatorial candidate down 
this way, I said casually enough that I favored Morrison, 
as I assumed, she did, since, as Mayor of New Orleans, he has 
already demonstrated his knowledge of and-a bility to sell to 








Francois Mignon Papers, M-5889 


Monday , Jlovember ZOth, 1959 


Memorandum : 


the tourist world just the type oj thing atchitoches has 
to seel, I was mildly surprised when she said she felt that 
many people would be opposed to theState being run from Hew 
Orleans, Hew Orleans not knowing the rest of theState exists • 
Morrison, although its Mayor, is from Hew^oads but I didn't 
me tioned that but went forward to say that I supposed, 
therefore, what with Morrison out, Jimmy D a vis would 
receive her bullot, To my surprise, she said she said 
she had little enthusiasm fo him and quite casually added 
that she felt it would perhaps be better *for theState to 
have a Governor from the red hills of !forth Louisiana in the 
person of Willie Rainach, the e racial bigot, although the racial 
bigot are my words, not hers • From this, 1 deduce that John 
must think if we g et a ouernor cut after the pattern of the 
o ernor of Arkansas, John would thus be saved any possibility 
of refusing admission to northwestern of a person of color, 

It is quite possible, of course, that Rainach might be high man 
at the polls although 1 'm under the impression that the two 
top men in next Saturday's election or primary will be 
H a vis apd Morrison in about that order • 

Celeste remained at this b.end of the river until this 
noo n,, If hen mama is experiencing as great a transformation as 
her daughter, the recuperation ought to be astonishing, For 
the first time in months, and months, the high tension which 
has made contact with the daughter so unpleasant seems to 
h a ve relaxed and one is a 62e to break bread in an a tiyospher 
of peace. At the hospital, I gather, one spends one s time 
chatting, with one's mama and dishing with strangers in the 
coffee shop i but not not wearing one s self out at either 
pursuit and especially not by flying up and down the big road, f 
If only the pateint's hip can mend as readily as the daughter s 
frayed nerves, the transformation will be truly miraculous • 

I did a d a b of r eading last night and enjoyed the 
Barstun essay on George Bernard Sh aio# L he author surrpised me 
a little in pwintitig out parallels between Shaw and Rousseau, - 
and never before had I thought of the two men having any 
similarity I guc3S one reason why I enjoy B a rsun is 
because he offers one fpod for-, thought, In book3 such as this, 
however, -essays on a flock of writers and musicia-'-S, I think 
the recorded edition, at least, might do well to provide the 
reader with two or three sentences at the beginning of each 
essay, giving the reader thedates of birth and death 
some^mention of his salient works as a sort of Preface, providing 


Fair and not so chilly • 

.• Today' s mail wasn't much hut I enclose a few samples 
regardless• I do not want the Spinks letter back although 
I should be glad to have the recipes, at least the one 
in which the potato figures, so if you would check it and eit\je 
let me have a transcription some time after the holidays or, if 
you find it easier, simply send back the page on which it appears 
I shall toss it in my folder of pecane recipes being gathered 
toegher. The potato thing sounds novel and delectable 
an$ it can be pushed into the pecane bracket easily enough simply 
by grating some pecanes over the business in its final 
preparatory siage. 

At dinner today, ^ was. interested in what J . d, had to 
sayabout Madam Regard, H e mentioned that Celeste was hoping 
the patient might be brought home this week end but that he 
felt this would be unlikely. He said she was sitting up 
the other day but that he found her looking much more worn 
that before her hospitalisation and everyone feels she shsutd 
showed unmistakeable signs of going down hill prior to her 
All . Stint's Dgy journey into south Louisiana, 

he cotton harvest came to an end today, or at least, so 
it was said, but one never knows about the final day 3ince 
we are always a rriving a t them and then re-arriving a day or 
two later but the ploughs are beginning to churn up the 
soil and I guess that heralds the end of the crop so 
far as the fields in the immediate vicinity may be concerned, 

Celeste yentioneQ the other day that she had sent you 
a sack of pecanes from, the store, J, H, says the crop isn't 
worth bothering with • I believe some 20 pound sacks were 
sold at $5,50 but I never did see any of these and 
I a ssume those pecanes must hav come from the Little 
River area as I haven't seen ai y signs of pecanes in this 
neighborhood • The bumper cotton crop must have provided 
quite a cushion for the meagerness of the pecane harvest this 
season but J, H, always see* seems to consider such matters with 
indifference or as a fact of life that merits no observastions, 











From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS# #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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10227 




1CZZ8 


Tonight's Invitation to Learn interested, me much,— 
not for its subject matter but for the news announcement 
at its conclusion, —thedeath of Lyman Bryson, as 
of November 24th. I reckon the November 25th newspapers may have 
carried the obituary or the 26th at the latest a nd I 
suppose some of the magazines may record his passing, I have 
feeling that a » obituary may be coming to hand shortly but I 
7i a ve a feeling I shall do a column about Dr* Bryson tonight 
before the details of his career come to hand, Perhaps it may 
not be worth publishing as a column and perhaps some biogra hical 
notes might bolster the attempt to printable status and possibly 
I shall never use it as subject matter for a Cane River Memo 
but I have been thinking dL 1 evening as I was busy with other 
chores that I should like to try my hand at it. 

As for tonight's subject oh Invitation, it was a book 
I have unsuccessfully tried to read several times but never could 
get beyond the first few pages, —Knut U a nsen'3 Growth 
of theSoil which, if 1 reoall correctly, got the Nobel Prize for 
Literature in 1917, I doybt if I ever try reading 
the book again but every, once in a while I like to attempt 
something rejected in years gone bye just to see if I have grown 
along with the soil to some sense of a more favorable impression. 

The people in the novel, so far as I got, were too much 
like the girls in the sweat sho novels such as iusie, the 
Sowing Machine Girl or whatever. They certainly had their 
problems and I sorry they had them but they represented 
a level of civilization I always thought sordid and poverty strict 
mean anddi3 agree able and I could always find sufficient problems 
of a parallel nature to that branch of society in other levels the 
I much preferred investigating and for that reason the Nansen 
opus must forever remain a closed book to me, ^ guess, i 

I didn't know until I heard it on tonight's program that 
during the 2nd World War, Hansen, the Norwegian , became a 
Nazi sympathizer and collaborator, Somehow there is always 
something more startling a* bout a» artist than any one else surpri j 
one by getting on to the wrong side of the fence. 

And now for a go at some mail and then a little Barzun 
on the detective story and thence.for a dab of 3hut-eye . 


Tuesday, December 1st, 1959. 


Memorandum: 

Pleasantly mild, after the coldest November in 79 years and 
quite a dry one, too, with the rain measurement an inch.below normal for the month. 

I happened to have this machine available and so am employing it. 

Ann called me today. Her in-laws, after a week's visit, returned to where ever 
today and she was feeling a dab freer. 

She said her birthday was yesterday and that.her mams, Ora, had brought 
her a gift to the Chamber of Commerce office where Ann had tried it on, after Ora 
had departed, and, finding it too tight, called the porter who is a colored 
boy, telling him to stay in the office for 10 minutes while she skipped over 
to the store to exhhange the gown. She instructed him to answer the 'phone and 
to tell anyone who might call that she would be back in 10 minutes and that 
the numbpr should be left for her to call on her return. Rushing back to 
the office, she learned from the boy that some man had called, asking 
for the name, address and telephone number of the Gubernatorial aspirant, 

Senator Willie Rainach, the racial bigot, or respresentative of same. The boy 
said he replied^ 

"Yaass, sir, you done got the Chamber of Commerce ajlright but Lord-dee, 

I wouldn't know about all that other stuf' you done ask about.." 

• 

I worrier hew the Jiill billy getting that response from theChamber of 
Commerce, liked it. 

The Senator Rainach advertising hit a new low yesterday when, over WWL, New 
Orleans, just before the news, a one sentence political.advertisement was 

given: : * ' 

"K If you want to protect your small daughter, vote for Rainach for 
Governor." . .to.' " r 

Then followed the news, and by happy circumstance, the first new item was 











Francois Hignon Papers, #M-5889 


1C 230 


Wednesday, December 2nd 


an account of three New Orleans pdlicemen being fired for having attacked a 
colored woman. 

No suggestion was made as to whom one might vote for in consequence of that 


Charles vras supposed to print the Christmas Festival programs this ’'ear 
but, after getting the contract, turned it down, —too much work to 'o and 
insufficient help. Accordingly the job was turned over to the 
Enterprise, and the Enterprise is printing it. I learned from an uncertain sources, t 
that the first appearance of the program was disappointing. The cover was 
supposed to have been black and gold or rather blue and gold but came out 
black and gold. The decoration consists of Virgin with child and 
my informant was distressed because the Virgin seems alarmingly sepia. 

If I c n round one up eventually, I shall put it in the mail. 

Last night, before folding upjf I knocked off a column about 
Lyman Bryson but I doubt if it was any good. I sent it in but 
doubt if it is up to standard nd so may be withheld, I hope. I should 
like to get a couple of columns done in advance of the impending rush and, 
if I succeed, perhaps somebody can cull over a couple and find enough 
in a.pair to make an article, even though the subject matter be 
in no way related. 

In pursuance of the clippings you forwarded concerning the will of 
Bernard Berenson, I am delighted that a book of his post war essays have already 
provided me with a measure of pleasure, although I have glanced over only 
a few pages. It wds a pleasant coincidence to have encountered in them two or three 
sentences, strikingly similar as to content, that I had read only 
the night before in the Barzun essay on William James, 

suggesting the one time Harvard student was well acquainted with the one time 
Harvard philosopher. 




» > 











From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS. #fj-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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01.S >1 


10231 




1C232 


Thursday, Decern’ er 3rd, 1959. 


Just as I turned this page, the Lost Word 
telephoned from Shreveport, I shall try to put down 
what she said in the progressionof the conversation : 

I hoped I didn't call too late • I knew you. would 
want to know Carolyn's father died Tuesday night, Ye3, she 
got back before he died 0 

continuing• 

I'll be go ng to a meeting in Alexandria tomorrow and 
i'll try to stop off and pick up the Uncle T om manuscript and 
if I don't make it tomorrow. I'll try to make it this week 
end or early, in the week, My office tells me we shall have 
to hold up publication on Uncle Tom until later, perhaps Spring • 

continuing: o . 

t, We saw Miss Lee who is just as 3weet as ever • By the way, 

I understand you have seen Mr, Hodges recently • 

end of Shreveport call • 

. I shall, of course, send flowers to Marshall on the morrow • 
jls I didn t ask when the funeral had been scheduled, I'm wonder in < 
it was held today or later and, if tomorrow, why the Lost Word 
shouldn't attend, Perhaps she attended it today, Perhaps it 
will not be held until Friday, 

And I wonder why the manuscript should be picked up tomorrow 
or this week end if .the book can't go into production until 
Spring, I need pictures Carolyn took when she, l a Hunter and I 
attended the dedication of St, Simon's, I shall not need cn y of 
local pictures for the pecane book, I must study about 
taking that to the proper publisher 

The last I knew, Warren had not received the transparency of 
taken on October 10th or 11th, that was to s erve as cover for 
Dixie-Roto at ujhioh time tHegrtiole and black and white illustrat 
would appear. As you know, 1 haven't been a hie to get a letter 
from the puotographer, not a post card, not a telephone call. 

We accept our friends as they are but I must say once in a while 
one or another exerts something of a strain on the acceptance, esf 
for those who set high store on dependability • 

I had better knock off a line to Kay and James, 

Helen ai}d a few others and then get back to B,Berenson .. 


Memorandum: 

Lovely weather although a little cool with a promise for a bit 
of warming tonight and on the morrow. 

I was altogether entranced at the sight of an air mailfromLymein 
today's post and I call down blessings from on high for little I.iss Lee in 
providing me with such a perfect vignette of last week's contact. 

It goes without saying, however, that I was genuninely sorry to learn 
of the indispoition that is bound to have k hobbled doings considerably, 

having recently experienced something parallel, I suppose “ y , el a ffii c ition n 

backs is the more vivid. I hold the thought, however that tl>e physical affiicition n 

have evaporated in the one case as completely as in the th8t 

the pressure of the times makes for unusual slowness in gating back into th 
regular routine. There is the illness in friendship which *££ 

developements effecting a span of so many years can be ‘ 

potentials, imposing, as such things do, such a strain on other people intimately 
concerned with the opposing forces. I shall hold the thought 
the cracks in the structure may eventually be cemented and ^ * h ® f J^lo £ 
somehow survive in spite of the present precarious situation that has developed. 

And may I say how much I appreciate the details of the recent^contact and 
how conversation turned. I«m so glad you were able to acquaint the ladies with 
news and your treatment of the Hodges business was just . v+ 

perfect. It was only the Los Adais thing that seemed to me well to be kept 
confidential for the moment and so your avoidance of that detail w j 
right. With secretaries at Hodges having known of my intention to 
vifit him and the presence of at least one of them during my visit at 
the morning session made it rather remarkable that news of the day thus 
snent had not already ® been mentioned to the Lost word. I am ... . . 

glad you mentioned the matter to her so that she will not be too jwg* 8 * ^me 
of it through regular channels. As for the Los A dais proj , 
enough for her to learn about that when it advances to the point where 
Camino Real starts incorporating that historic point in its public 
relations bulletins. 







From the FRANCOIS MiGNON PAPERS, #H-5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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10233 


10234 


Evan had Los Adais been mention, however, there would have been 
nothing upsetting about that fact either but I must confess I am just 
as well pleased that Mr. Hodges will not hear about that porject until he has had 
an opportunity to explore the ownership of the tract a little. 

Come to think of it, the Tuesday epistle from Lyme reports the Rocket 
as still being in the city. Last night's 'phone call from the Lost Word 
reported the Rocket's papa having died on Tuesday and, in response to 
my inquiry, it was further stated the Rocket was with him, all of which sounds unlikel; 
although, perhaps, possible. The point is thst is coincides with so much about 
the unknown in relations that have sagged into such lop-sidedness. 

While I think of it, let me report that I did not take up 
the Idacdowell thing during the Hodges visit although I explored the place where 
that project may eventually come into flower. I felt so strongly on 
seeing the floorplan of the Parthenon that I thought it most important to 
further that venture or potential venture into claccism that 
it was better to push it to the ultimate and let the Maddowell thing 
develope when this project of the Parthenon, already in embryonic state, 
should have advanced to the point that the I.'acdoweel thing could be 
undertaken vigorously without any Arcropolis impinging on it Then, as you 
know, came the Los Adais thing which seemed wise to initiate, for once the Parthenon 
is well under way, the Los Adais thing can be engineered quite separately 
from anything in thejprdens and thus could be managed concurrently 
with the Los Adais undertaking and I trust my sense of timing was correct, 
as I do believe it was. 

From the enclosure, you will note reference to my advertisement or ancient 
sugar pots and the notice of such an item for sale. I am glad to note what 
the advertiser askes for his, --$90.00 in view of the fact that I have already 
discovered where there are three down Derry way that can be obtained for 
$20.00 a piece. What I am really casting about for is an 11 foot one 
with a view to disposing of it eventually to the Los Adais developement if that 
should eventuate. Usually, one has to inherit these ancient pots and if 
I do invest in the three at $20.00 a throw, I know of '’our people at least who 
would, glandly pay 3 or 4 times thst amount to obtain one, —including 
Madam General, among others. •- 

I coffee-ed across the fence. The lady seems so relaxed. She remarked the 
d ctcr said he hoped Madam Regard might make it tome by Christmas. That 
sounds a little vague but quite in line with circumstances in the case. 

I was happy to be able to get the balance of the Ghana frieze finally 
installed today and I must say, it looks quite pretty, so neatly sheded by the eaves, 
enters the house without noticing it but when sighted, on leaving, so clorful 
Thelma and her daughter the other da- could scarcely tear themselves away..... 


Thursday, December 3rd, 1959. 


post Scripts 

T o quote a silly character I once knew: 

"The longer I live, the longer I live." 

Just after sealing today's memo, about 8:30» 1 guess, my 
'phone rang. It was the Rocket, calling from home. 

She began by thanking me for flowers sent today. 

She haid the funeral would be held tomorrow. 

You and I will both be puzzled by the next statement, in view of her reported 
present at the'^oodstock on Tuesday morning, for she reported tonight that 
she had returned home on Monday. I don't see any point in straining at such a gnat 
but I bring up the point since it demonstrates so perfectly the type of puzzle I am 
forever encountering with the Rccket-LostVTord treatment of any subject. Somehow 
I never know how to figure out the answers, even if those answers are of no ^ 
importance, as in 'his matter of the time of departure which, in itself, doesn t 
make any difference although I am quite sure in your own mind that you have 
every reason to believe she was still at the Woodstock on Tuesday, even as 
I believe, contrary to subse uent testimoney. 

I suppose tonight's conversation lasted about 15 minutes and although 
I provided opportunities to conclude the conversation, at the seme time, I was 
glad to let the conversation go on as it seemed to provide the lady ith 
a c rtain satisfaction, possibly in getting away from the events of what has 
probably been a wearisome day in other matters. 

She said she had seen Martin this morning and he was very enthusiastic 
about the Dallas line of designs for 1961 and hoped to get the Nieman-Marcus 
crowd down here before the end of the month. She said she had 
discouraged him bout coming when Jack Frost had flattened everything and 
turned every thing a dull brown. I told her I had adivsed him a month 
ago, suggesting a visit before the first freeze or putting it off until 







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10235 


10236 


Friday,December 4th, 1959, 


greenery in the spring had hod an opportunity to reassert itself. Che said she would 
see Kartin on the morrow and would recall my position on that matter. 

She mentioned how nice it had been seeing you snu how sweet you had 
been. I shall forever hold the thought that no bouncing checVs were involved. 

Che said that although there were many things to be decided upon regarding the 
heme, etc., shortly, she had a feeling it was better for her to go right ahead and 
attend to business in New brie ns immediately following the funeral. I seconded this 
notion warmly, knowing perfectly well she couldn't pcseibly slow down anyway. 

And, since we had gone this far field, so far as tomorrow?? services weren't ccnce 
I to4k the opportunity to ask if she had seen Tfarren lately end if any exteriors of Ghana 
he hud been waiting.had ever been sent him during the past 7 weeks. She ssid she had 
not seen him and hadn't sent anything, being uncertain as to where any 
of pictures, taken during the summer and autumn migh be filed. Hummmmmmmmmmm. 

She asked about Madam Rc ard and then took up the matter of the Hedges visit. 

She said she was dying to hear all about it and would try to get down for a good chat 
during the holidays. I didn't think it fitting to inquire if she meant the 
1959 holidays or perhaps the I960 or possibly the 1961 Christmas season. 

That just about covers tonight's conversation, I believe. I shall look for 
her and the lost Word when they get here and shouldn't be at all surprised if that time ti 
be in deep summer or next pilgrim; ge time or whenever, knowing no more about that 
than I know about her return home on Monday and her pre*enence at the TCoodstock on 
Tuesday. 

Two things I intended including in tonight's memo I did not do. 

One was to report that at supper tonight, J. H. confessed he was in an auto 
wreck about 5:30 in which thefender and mud g ard of the clerk's car were tern off 
while J. H. was returning from town. I guess it will be 2 weeks this coming Sunday 
the truck mashed the car he was driving. 

A little animal, described as a salamander, is digging little old heaps of 
dinck dirt all around the gardens. I was delighted about this salamander business 
today when I asked a son of the soil if it could be ants making those little odl mounds 
of earth and he said 

"Lord, no, them ain't the works of ants... .them's jus' made by 
them old sandamanders. I must say I liked the word and shall probably 
be dragging sandamanders into ever conversation within the immedist r future. 


Memorandum 

Cloudy „nd sort of 690 ish, with a promise of rain, or 
tonight, followed by clearing and cooling tomorrow, x he 
spectators to the fireworks will appreciate the clearing if not 
the cooling tomorrow evening but, as I shall not beamong 
those journeying to town, I shall not be‘inconvenienced 
by the weather, regardless of what it decides to do, 

I saw Celeste at coffee this morning and shementioned having 
had the store send you some pecanes, She left at noon and will 
not be back here before next week some time , 

She mentioned talking with Mildred Cunningham on the ’phone, 
Mildred says her brother-in-law, Charles, has a budding romanoe 
in the works, a widow lady named Mitchell or some such living 
in BdtonDouge, Charles is issuing invitations for 
a party he is giving tomorrow night at .the Country 
Club, starting.at 1 0:30, a nd his friend, the Graces of BatonRouge, 
and the widow lady will be the featured guests, I must say I 
h a ve loved that expression ever sinoe hearing it ages ago, — 
"featured guests", Any host who would "feature a guest" 
has no right to the title of host, as I see it, I 
mention the Charles Dunningham embrionic romance fo this 
is the second he has had in as many years, I believe he 
decides somebody i3 going to marry him, spreads the new» about 
and then is quite disconsolate when it turns out nobody had 
much intention of matrimony, In the t rade, it is said 
he needs a new press but that he claims to be short of money but 
he has just purchased another new Cadillac and plans to vacation 
in Yucatan over the holidays, so perhaps his poverty means he is 
merely down to his last yacht. For so many years I have heard the 
lady next door talk about poverty, just before taking off for 
Europe or South America or where ever, that I have come to realize 
I have no notion what other people have in mind when employing 
that word. 






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1023 


SUNDAY, December 6th, 1959 


Memorandum 


Saturday was cloudy, chilly and clammy but it didn't rain on the fireworks . It 
last night and in spite of brilliant sunshine all day, it will ffeeze again tonight. 

Sister, her daughter and younger son arrived unannounced Friday night. 

Sister spent the morning in bed and I did not see her except at dinner and 
supper, for she was going tc town to see the fireworks, and I saw her 
about 9 this morning just before she and her offspring headed for home. 

From what she told me at supper, she succeeded on Friday night in demonstrating 
before reaching here how the cow ccntirbuted the bucket of milk for sweet 
Charity's sake and then truned around and kicked it over. 

Before leaving Shreveport on Saturday, she went to greet effort to 
invade a warehouse and drag out the little four poster child's bed which she 
had used for her children when small. She brought it down es far 
as Natchitoches where she took it to Pat and Juanita B.' for their baby to use. 

That was fine, of course, but then she insisted .that Pat get a 

notary to sign a letter that Pat was to write, stating that the child's 

bed in his possession was not his, for, as she pointed out to me, she 

explained to Pat-end Juanita that if they both should get killed during 

the next two or three years, Juanit 's people might take the bed, claiming that it 

had belonged tc their daughter. It's not whst we share but the 

way we share it, of course, and the milk bucket went .tumbling all over the place, npti 
My Saturday afternoon was taken up in part by TV camera people who were trying tc 

. • #1 D a t • • xt . n At _ ___ A_A. At _1 I .LI . 


take the Cane River plan ations in the afternoon and then concentrate on the lights 
at night. As they had secured the approval bf the store, I served as guide, 
and, fortunately, they being dumb, I was able to contrive things so 
they t got only seme exteriro picturee and no interiors, exepet possibly the 
picture window here by my desk. They never dreamed Ghana existed and they never 
ventured upstiars in the African House. 

I went to bed earl y lost night tc listen to election returns. The 
results suited me pretty well. There will have to be a runoff for 
Governor between Morrison and Davis. I hQpe,Konrison maybe successful but 
whether he is or not, I'm glad the Rainach and Noe-Long forces didn't get 
sufficient votes to enter the run off. 










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10239 


10240 


But, ins pite of all of yesterday*s dampened grays, there 
came the shaft of sunshine in the form of a letter from Lyme via air. 

It was so kind of you to make the transcript fromDel’s letter 
and I am glad you found pleasure in running through what she had to soy. 

There is no question about it, she has a facility with words which makes what she 
has to say exceedingly pleasant to read and I should be smarter if I 
responded to her letters more promptly in order that I might elicit 
more letters from that direction. 


I jump over to this machine from the other which began 
making a follow sound, with e very tap and I discovered the 
tape wa3!i t turning, 

I did want to report another obituary, —that of 
Lillian Trichell, The morning paper, according to a telephone 
call, reported her as having yesterday gone out to her house, 
as has been her custom, from.her apartment in the Physicians and 
Surgeons Hotel and that she died at home, —a heart seizure, d suppose 
I admired her muchbecause of her goodness and her charm and 
although she hasn't been able to do any correspondence in 
recent years, I have enjyed writing herf rom time to 
time to give her a glimpse of the passing scene, news of old friends 
coming and going and so on, I think she and Carrie were 
not so close in recent years although 1 suppose that was due 
primarily to Carrie's concentration on personal affairs and not 
through any lack of affection on Lillian's ,pi rt, I have 
always thought it so noble that Lillian, on occasion, would 
take Mormon troubles into her own hands and pay off 
Briarwood taxes in lean.years when Carrie and ole Virginie didn't 
seem able to scrape up enough to take care of them How 
bright must be the stars in the Trichell crown, now that she 
has gone on to join so many other friends among the 
Heavenly hosts .. 


Monday, December 7th, 2959 , 


Memorandum • 

wax i ng 1 moon^a* golden T gi g y ' S 3Unshi "* dazzling, .tonight's 

got tangled up in Life-office* ^Ke card aU " e3t3 *°methi7ig 
to be sent to little^Miss Lem card, supposedly, was 

mentioned on the card. But since cam 1119 tUe item 
assume the book will comm +hil V me to me in *teod, I 
be forwarded, naturally, to Lyme—ithoui delayY S °' ** Wtl1 

p°°> — 

* K •W&** se ‘ 

Christmas cards mount, ? \ts iTl/ob *—"** 9 +° S Ue Ude °f 
one hopes to keen abreast If It P rob **ty Juat as well if 

fail to succeed in, doing when the°inc re V * , try to do » but usually 
among them so many envelopes bearinn +°^ arriu als number 

people I cans car—lyTemembe p*”* 9 rC * Ur ” addr esses from 

last r a afternoon or 

looking well, j believe hm-r hi ° nd *? said Madam Regard isn't 
poaaibly canl S X °*L*T” 8 ' 

but she had not arrived at tir*+ 3a ] d 3 i e “ ,0U- * d be here today 
discharge my dutiel-s^Vst—Vf Th^hTund f ^ 

ftsulitu?™}VturfI J“ Iar *»*•'•«* a b.ut-th, 

0 / .pt.U, that OharUs U Jt.ru'g ll.TVftl.VZZTa.a r „ ojlo . 







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10241 


10242 ; 


Tutsday, December 8th, 1959. 


and that the widow gave no sign of any especial inte st in her 
host. 

Thelma called me this morning to say that she and John had 
gone to Sheveport yesterday to attend a meeting of the Louisiana 
Historical Society a nd although the sumposium givien was on 
re-planting of long leaf pine, Hr. Hodges was not present. 

Quite a few people from Shreveport will travel to Hew Orleans 
on the 13th, as will John and Thelma, and they will attend a , 

meeting of theLouisiana Landmark Association over which Martha "obtnij 

presides 1 ’ 

Thelma, as President of the Association of Hysterical Women, 
called me, asking that I decide as to whether the 
local society should affiliate with the Louisiana Landmark 
qroup. It seem 3 Martha has written to Thelma and to Carmen 
about the matter but somehow didn t realise that she would have 
done well to acquaint me with her efforts, since Thelma is want 
to consult CaneRiver before deciding on such, matters. 

I however, shall push Thelma in Marth a 's direction, for 
I think it is well all 3Uch organisations, already to splintered in 
their efforts, should comine their efforts as much as possible. 
t J wrote Mr. Hodges about the matter, pointing out that 
should the Los Adais business materialise, it might be well to make 
use of as many historical organisation ns as possible and the Landmarn 
Society ought to be thoroughly interested in the Los Adais 
matter a s a cardinal point in its program to. quicken public 
interest in landmarks generally. 

I enjoyed tonight's invitation to Learning, centering 
on William Cobbett's RuralRidea, aid how I should relish hearing 
little Miss Lee roll that one. John Fis er, Editor of Harper s, 
was one of the participants in the discussion. Except 
for the greater masculin tonal qudL ity, John Fisher sounds 
jU3t exactly like Miss Myra of Devereux. 


And now for a dab of work before the 10 o'clock news 
to learn what Mr. Eisenhower is cooking up in Asia .• 


Memorandumx 

Sunny andwam like a spring day. 

' Blythe and jean passed this way^this afternoon. 

Jean hat been hospitalised for pneumonia lately which I didn't 
know until learning^it from her. 

There was uuoh talk about politios. Ed BanAwill be 
in the January 9th run off for State representative > As 
Blythe didn’t want him to go into polities, she will not be 
too disappointed if he doesn’t win but the will work very hard 
to get Jimmy D a vis elected, Davis having alrsady announced he 
will stress the racial thing with vigor and that would, of course, 
appeal to Blythe. 

She manifests genuine surprise that many a negro 
who promised to vote for Ed Band did not do so, as indicated by 
returns from voting places in which no ovtes were oast for him. 

Blythe is of that old sohool whiah still thinks a person 
of color should always do as instructed and is provoked 
when they don t. 

V 1 n •. k* f R 1J, ; ' y CT V' ^ • I D • ** * • *• 

I cm sorry to say that I think Blythe may be on the winning side 

in th^ matter'of the Governor since the stirring of racial and 
religious pejudioe usually ends up with the best man being 
the loser at the polls in aontests suoh as the tmpending 
one. I shall continue holding the thought, however, that in 
spite of the My the Bands, Morrison may be the victor. 


There was a telephone calif rem the Lost Word this 
■ She wanted me bo do an aftiole on thoAfriean Bouse 

to’ appear "in Mr. Bodges' publication", —whatever that is. 
assume it may be that El Camino Beal publication. I told her 
would put the article in the mail on the morrow. 


I 

I 


t: ■. 


I asked her how the^ooket mas making it and the said she 


1 ** 









that night they lynched pa 


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/Q2C/3 


CI‘S01. 


10244 


u 


•l 


Wednesday, December 9th, 2959. 


was,doing alright, and that the a/ereeaid Bechet was in-Baton 
Reuge teday and wenId be in flew Orleans en the 
•• rrew, 

I shudder every time I think ef their theatre traneaotiens, 
er absence ef then in the matter ef the tickets, It 
»««2d certainly make me the happier if yen ••■Id let me knew 
hew much is entstanding en that aooennt se that I 
might send an. amount te cever a gainst fntnredividends in 
the matter ef pictures fer Martin, As yen knew, '/artin purchased 
, seme pictures, —1 guess it was t» Ifevenber, on, at least 
> Paid fer seme in Oe\/ember that were perhaps purchased 
in Oeteber . -fit that as it may, I was qsiok te supply the 
Reoket with her dividend, reoeipt ef whioh she mentioned 
a as having reached her prier te her trip te Mew *erk, —the 
- matter having been breught up velentarily en her part the 

ether night when she 'phened me frem Marshall en the day befere 
her fathers funeral, I certainly den t like the way these 
girls handle their business transaetiens and I den t mind 
tell yen I feel responsible fer any tranaetiens the Uookot 
has with little Miss Les, If yen-will be se kind as 
te let me sever whatever is entstanding at the mement, I 
shall feel genuinely appreciative • 

;i v' I drepped K a y a line en the night I learned ef the 
death ef the Bechet's papa and as letters frem here, addressed te 
Baten Bengey usually reach their destinatiSn eh the following day, 
it ie interesting that in his Sunday letter, James made ne referenl 
te it. Perhaps Kay went te New (Orleans te see My Fair Lady, if 
n it was playing there then, and that night explain the absence ef 
■\ a n V reference te the matter in James' letter, 

*Contrary te expectation, Celeste did net return 
1 frem Alexandria yesterday but prebably will be -putting 
. in an appearance •■ the morrow er the next day -Blythe said 
she had urged her te make her house her heme, coming ever 
there te relax, splash through baths er whatever she wished 
te do but that she hasn't ^passed that w^y as yet. 

J. B. laughingly remarks that Celeste knows everybody 
in the plaoe and when sensene asked if she really visited every 
cna •• the 4th fleer where Madam B,gard s room ts, J. a, was 
emphatic in explaining he didn't mean the whie fleer but 
o > the whole hospital. She apparently loves visiting 
Patients and perhaps even mere chatting with visiters 
te people in the institution, providing muoh 
diversion for her and considerable rest fer her warns, I am 
reminded of the simple minded soul ever near Ferriday who 
inall sincerity said "we ain't had se muoh fun sinoe 






5>v: 


Memerandumt 

Clpudy and warm with a premiss ef a sprinkle fer 
the ■ ,i' . j yt l , Ti ■$ 

)«o a bsivjSHi <3 iro b«o dot s.'fr 

« I shall rnakg a mental note ef phis date bssause 
shout half an hour before dusk-dark, a few thousand birds 
put in their eppearapse, !.It,will be interesting te see 
if and hpw nuoh the number is augmented from day te day and 
te epnpare their advent of this year, as to date* with 
yearp,ahead, A->oiu 

*It was nice hearing from'James but I continue 
to be impressed by the.emission of <fiy referenee to the Bosket 
about whose less he is bound te have heard , 

.•*T« 


I was a little surprised at the 
nneunced arrival ef the firxst wgoo ofblaok birds, robins, 
pie gruckles and whatever but I wasn't very surprised 

•L /i. 1 j ' j. _ _ n _j.._ll _ 


t,, l I' Uust confess 
unannounced arrival 

,&o'. • . 3 _ . „ 

that Celeste didn t turn up Devotion to mother, 
phattiug with ether patients, eeffee-ing with all and 
■ . 01 , sundry visiters calling on friends in the hospital, 

the 9 .tpo?tnnity, to, din.e out in town, t* shop leisurely 
eto,, etc,, sonetintutues something less rigorous and 
surely less c denau4ing from a responsibility than when in 
etheaplaees and regardless as to.hew nether may fare, I 
do believe the daughter will be having a whale ef a good 
and probably oeme through the ordeal in finer physical 
condition than phs haskn 




tii 


6 


knewnin years. 


9i\ 


0 4 


.te.o 




Off haid, I should have.supposed that-everyone 
in the JParish probably knew that I never acoapt dinner 
invitations and yet, in spite ef this assumption, I 
received net only sns,but twetnoifattens for tonight 
which, naturally, I declined,- dwt I didu*osapt n 
my own invitation te sup withrmyeelf* threi hours after 
bending a biscuit at the big house. What breught 
thin on pas^ the question that arose in my .mind during the 
afiejgio** at to whether the ancient DuBh even would 
be a likely vehicle, when placed before* but ins i< 
heater. In.baking an Irish potato « 




am 




I 


From the FR ANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M ~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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M>SOi 


10245 


. i39.t * 


itl ft 


ebn i d 
ftfte 

vo yob 
A* 


ftiU 


: bnpn ;sBfttt 

r". a.U Ihuntedup ene later and tenight at 7 I gave 

the thing a try. I figured it i oeuld require a beut 8 heure 
fer the Jeb and premptly at 9 I inserted a ferk and 
tfeund the thin )i tone turned te a T. Bounding up a dab ef 
butter and paprika,-* inserted sane, placing a hnnk ef 
t cheese the sixs ef a whlnut en tep the thing and 
turned the evenback te the butaine heater fer five minutes. 
■ When tt- had seeled a little, I attacked it with 
viger and ended np by eating the whele‘businei ' 
including, ef ceuree, the petate skin te beet. I oan see 
readily ensugh that the impending winter te geing 
te be e»e heavy with staroh. 


■fwt 




ftU 




With the pretable exeeptien ef the Churohill 
beek, I believe I have date with sending Christmas 
% z\ met sages which, aelesntemplate the calendar, 1 
• ruv strikes me as tee earl) fer e veryene exeept the peetal service. 
Up te the i present uement, I think I h a ve received but 
u twe chrietuas-earde-add 3‘regret there haven t been 
<mere at- this stage ef Detember and eensequently less when 
yift' the waves ef cards*begin welling inlO days henoe when ene 
ifeels impelled te kangaree' threugh them-se speedily, 
j\?> the pleasure ef eentemplattng them leisurely beoemes almest 
t an impesetbilitg.. 

bftftt o \e fttudu o ftd LLioi *tb »n* ft«ftUftd ob 

And tn speaking ef heliday mail, I reoall last 
January reoeibingwa'letter free liri Beokerman , remarking, as 
he Jetted dewn the date ef January 1st, that he was beginning 
the yeartrtghtb?During the intervening nenths 
1 have asms te the eenolusien that while the start is 
I eirti" \ft Li ba« tmnuiium 

night* inpertant, ttHi the fells w threugh that J 
really telle at the end ef the twelth menth fer 
•\r, I haven t heard etnee. * 

arrtruftid .ftftL’eri Q^d ft» v * ***«-«*•' 

a.' ,m-u Mrs. Walken Just balled He anneunoe Ihi Enterprise 
preseee had begun turning. I suppesethisHfe'ik's issue 
will arrive day behind s ehedule this peek as it did last. 
Fortunately, nebed-y prebably has time te ire ad newspapers during 
Bsoember anyway, se the time element deesn't oeunt.... 


10246 


Thursday, December 10th, 1959. 


emoarndum: 

Cloidy, warm and misty today and tonight. 

All the Parish Henrys are in New Orleans and what with Celeste in 
SAlexandria, I must be pretty much alone on the plantation tonight and 
I,must confess I am in no way lonesome. After all, the boxer and the 
cat are draping my doorstep in 8 peaceful snooze and the black brids have 
folded up so that peace and quiet obtains utterly, save for the tap 
of the typewriter keys. 

I did not see Blythe today but she came up this morning, bringing 
some ladies with her to spend the day at the c mp at bridge. The 
clerk mentioned having seen her pass in her car and tonight the artist 
'phoned to say that she had taken over some t ble linen she had laundered 
for Madam Hand and the latter had told her to say Howdy for me on her behalf. 

The mails continue normally tin. I reckon the avalanche 
will get started About next week. I enclose a couple of items from 
today's post although they are of no interest except the news of 
Miss Myra's activities fromRoan. I shall respond to Roan's 
inquiry as to why I never get over to Natchez by saying thst I suppose 
the cause of my failure to put. in an appearance in The 
Bluff City is probably much the same as the reason why Natchez people 
never get a round to write, —they and I being too busy 
going around in circles and getting no where. 

Last night I read a little ftrom the December Re dere Digest. T he 
account of how things are going from bad to worse in Ghana is 
depressing. Tonight's broadcast of Eric ( Savereitfrom Kenya neighborhood 
sounded grave enough, too. Columbia also, had a broadcast 

from the French Community, stating that the natives in that area have decidec 
want an army and navy of their own which they need as much as a rooster a so< 
I gather that very little of Africa is able to stand on its own 
feet either politically or economically. Like children trying to learn to \ 
all the hodge-podge making up the African community, is bound to have 
support, now that the Colonial powers sre withdrawing 
and leaving their former wards to themselves. I think colonialism 
is anathema to most of these peoples, ruling out aid by any 
particular country and so I guess the United Nations ought to take a hand 
in lending stability to the struggling new nations but the U. N. is 


9 



From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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10247 


FU 


10248 


not geared for such a job and if the Un. N. doesn't move into this 
politic 1 vacuum, then the Russians will and that will be that. * suppo 
bout the same situation exists in Couth America. You town out a Batist 
a Castro emerges, leading one to the conclusion that an autocracy, prere 
benevolent, is about the only stabili;'ng force available since the 
inhabitants of all these communities seem quite incapable of making 
Democracy work. How often these days to I imagine a parallel 
between, the Greece of500 B. C. and ourselves, —possessed of everything 
but political sense. 

I think I mentioned yesterday having read the article about Hawaii 
December Digest, an article I thought was handled exceedingly well 

Tonight's news reports the senior Senator from Louisi na as naming 
the party leaders for the Presidential 

campaign as Simington for the Democrats and Rbckeferller for the Republi 
must be some wishful thinking in the Republican n med for it seems to n 
to have the thing wrapped up in his party. As for myself, I 
have not be able to generate much enthusiasm for Mr. Cimington, 
possibly because he remains a shadoT/y figure in my mind but more, 
perhaps, because I feel the opponent of ! Mr. Eisenhower on 
the last two go-rounds is still the best man for the place. 


The telephone, company has let it be known that service in this free 
decline during the next two months because of new equipement being insts 
so that service will suffer during the protracted period of installation 
a line supporting 8 parties, I shall probably notice very little 
difference. This morning I had occasion to dial Red 
Cross, 2273 and was mildly surprised when I got the Shamrock motel, — 
5677.. Last evening. I called Millspaugh, —2111, and 
got 7948.. Along by mid January when the work really gets under 
way, dialing ought to develcpe into quite an adventure, I should imagine 
.* <> * "i ap' •' ' ’ : . ; i ' TJ 'J ■ I 

. But enough of this chatter, for I must get out some mail, 
after which, I propose to indulge in a dab of musicsle before 
calling it a day Today's heave cloud coverage plus the fact that the su 
rose at 7*05 and sot about 5 m de the daylight hours seem so scanty 
and the flight will accordingly be pleasantly long, an arrangement I reli 
when there's so much desk work awaiting my attention and so many things 
set spinning on the Talking Book machine...*.. 


Friday, December 11th, 1959* 


Memorandumt 

Cleudy, warm and sprinkley. 

Fourty billion ward* w*uld J»*t suffioe to reoord my delight tm 
what the meet had to bring from Lyme by air today • Although, as 
usual, there were no etringo attached, I feel tnottonotioelyfool 
that Arenbourg ohould not bo neglected in the impending festivities 
and I sha 11 bo reporting on details at a subsequent sitting. 

in the mean time, I want to s ay that, thanks to 
the advertisement in the Market Bulletin, .1 was able to learn 
Just what I wanted to learn, —where .some of the big old sugar pots 
are hiding and at what price their owners would sell them. Fortunately 
the three I have my eye on are at present gracing deserted pastures and 
seem to be, like deserted plantation homes on fertile property, — 
classified by the owners mors of a liability than an asset, and I roeko 
if I work the negotiations properly, the owners will end up by 
offering to pay me to haul them away insstead of thinking up some 
mngioal price for merchandise, serving them not at all and far beyond 
their imagination as to know what do do with, should they over decide 
to plough up the pastures for ootton and so want to get them out of the 
way* Ft will be interesting to obser.ee fc*» thismatter does finally tur 

Ft goes without saying what regrets Lestan feels about the rift th 
has rooontly yawned so close to homes F am inclined to subsoribo to 
Lestan's view that nobody is sufficiently rich in this world of woe to 
be able to afford such a rupture, personally, and how many times 
more so 'is it unthinkable when the friendships and affections of others 
are involved, If God doesn't see fit to oepn the eyes 
ali around, may He at least touch some hearts whioh would 
be a miracle, too great to be expected, one supposes • 

Ft was so good of you to acquai nt me with the Woodstock wetter 
a* you interpret it and I believe you are earreats It doesn t 
really matter Just hew the thing worked,-co far as events turned really 
but I was ourious to observe how uncertainly^the visit had been 
concluded, even as I had been impressed by the way ,the visit 
began, qutte unknown to me and reported so differently to 
w two friends, F guess what really gSts into my hair is the fact thal 
those silly girls, by their failure to eo-pporate with the 
Party of the third part, are lotting so »Nk good will and money slip 







Francois Mignon Papers, ffl-3889 


In the Southern Historical Collection 


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10250 


10249 


Sunday, Dee ember 13th, 2959 


Mem.,randUM : 

(jeudy and chill en Saturday, eleueikees and a little warmer 
teday and tenight the mean ie a elivery fiery, 

, " ‘ * i i . I 4i V • I j, i. . «• 4 11 - '' • 

J. H, returned frem flew Orleans Friday night, 

He said he had heard lets of talk about S.tate pelitios while in the 
Crescent City, He eaye peliticiane feel Mprrisen 
will be hard tg beat, Ae Uerrieen ie my favorite, I trust it 
turns euf he ’is unbeat a ble, 

v.'j iv-inr 'Ir-ii - • \> ^ 

Celeste returned from- Alexandria Saturday• She has semehew 
been persuaded that it is geed te have her nether transferred te 
Uatthcieohes, Madam Regard’s Alexandria doctor 
says he cannet imagine a better persen te leek after her than 
the lady doe ter in tew n, a Ihey expect te make the transfer 
en the morrow, ^ : , '-r--\ v ■» 

\ ■<<;> W llUHl MCA* i 

This merning J^R, breught me seme peeple frem n 
Elerade, Arkansas whe had with them a yeung gentleman frem 
London, 1 feundithem levely peeple and 'they 
,,se much lifed what they had te see that, en 
leaving, they asRed me if,I liked peaoeeks and I eaid that I did, 
te whioh^they respended that they weuld like te send me 
a pair. What a flurry in the basse+eeur when Emmet and Erwin 
discover a’ couple ef peaoeeks fer companions, t .■* go 

aoA also ua& aocu i asnueeu 1 bi;o ‘ted sj itl ban 

l On Saturday, the pest arrive £ unusually-early, ueually 
.^suggesting soant mail, Xhts was ah exception, however, fer 
the avalahee that I had'expected te me -j '\H '■ sat 

sthrt any day, began moving in that pest and ,v .. = 

of course, all the,.secretaries gst.lett fer the week-end. But 
ene glance revgals that abeut 90 perqent are n - 

greeting cards and the balance deesu t seen fe be eemprieed 
ef anything especially interesting and ceil am quite ready te 
begin geing tRr.eugh-them •» the merrew, si ein* « IJ. 

.ji.io« kt&t no ad fcluoo i , wm nJ AMU 

I suppese Kay must have received feme extra mail en 
Saturday, tee) v .bu* ef the holiday variety but ef 
the birthday sert sinoe her natal day teuthi*il&th 
ene in December, —Kay [a birthday .being IB days before 
Christmas, 4«»t Willie's 10 days ofter .Lhrietnas, eaoh ef 
, the ladies having selected a peer time \feneuoh anniversaries, it se 
te me, what with birthdays always .getting Jest when tee 
clese te Deoember 85th, 1 imagine. 


. r 0 •« ■>■ ,, • • - J '0 •' 

threugh their fingers needlessly aid wastefully, se that instead 

ef piling up tens ef geed will and extra cash te beet, —and 

all three ef the parties oeuld stand mere and afferd te waste nene, 

. and yet they preoeed aleng their harun~soarum jay, blissfully 
ignerant, apparantly ef what they are and aren t deing, 
c.’ .• n 5 * • 

Of ceurse, <ene is beund te aeoept peeple as they are but 
they, in thetr turn, 1 suppese, eheuldn't be tee surprised 
. if ene registere oenoem fer them when we see them unwittingly 
entering upem slippery paths en which they are geing te less their 
— . feeting, I must oenfess I eften find myself wendering if, by taking 

t himself up the Cengs, DrJlweitaer, in taking en the eares ef that 
regien may net have felt a huge weightx liftened frem his heart 
by lcavingbehind and eut ef sight the tegien aleng the *htne, 

; '■ ■" r 1 "Ol'i ! ; 6 I - 

rfew characteristic ef little Mice Lee, in spite e all the 
demands en her heart and mind, sheuld semehew find time te think ef 
a ribben fer Lestan, mewing my ether maohine had stuck earlier 
this week, the olerk sent a passing repair man te fix it and the 
latter . glanetng at the ether maohtne, eberved it eeuld stand 
o new 1 lacing" er in tt laeeing, and, as a gesutrj ef appreeiatie i» 
fer his ether effort, I erdered seme new "lace" whioh, te my surprise, 
r. he drew out tef hie peoket and adjusted forthwith. It will 

be se nice having a spare during thebe busy days ahead when I 
shall probably wear this ene te a fraxxle mighty seen, 
sjV.. c fr'tuv 3* i" kt . it VS C - i' jI ‘ •' 

. I made a duplicate ef the 4 page thing I did en the African 
Heuse fer the SI Camine Real publicatien, as requested by 
^ -the. Lest Verd, I den t want the duplicate and send it aleng, 

, although it contains nothing new and ten iwrik glancing threugh 
except a s a pre-uiew ef the forthcoming publication. Carmen 
has never received any payment for the article she did fer an earlier 
issue, about Hatehitoohes, and I expect nothing 

for this which I am glad te contribute te thf> cause., 
i kat>\ etui s ..i-us e&ai’Vi 1 « 

I have a potate baking in the Butah even fer later tenight, 
s. I shall be glad te eemmune with Lyme ae I nibble en tt later, 
praising <*od in fourty billion different keys fer the ene-ness 
whioh geography can do nothing about intervening .. 





(i. 


From the FRANCOIS WlGNON PAPERS, #H~5889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


10252 


0<&1U 


10251 








: -U'V.SiOT 0*5'- 

Since receiving Kay's last letter, I 'have been turning 
ever a couple of things in my mind, trying te unravel a couple 
of points which I had theught nething abeut untilthe letter 
oame te hand. Thin was especially true en ene peint and a secend 
peint areee, in the wake ef her letter, when a nete frem Jmee 
came, through te underline a secend point . * * / 

+ 1 1 r C * • G O * • 

Either James er lay er beth had written me that they 
a a were oasting abeut for a likely place en which te build 
■\ a heme, I knew ef a lady who had beught a pleasant preperty 
in theBeten Rouge area and suggested she get in touch with 
vY n the Registers whs were in the market, Ihe subsequent nets 

frem James indicates he holds firmly to "the heps that ne preperty 
may be found and that he and his wife may continue dwelling 
in their apartment, making me feel feelinh enough fer having 
undertaken what I theught they were trying te do, 

Ihe ether peint that threw me a little was’nay's 
inquiry as te where she might find Primitive Art mete paper similar 
.> te something she had seen, I aent her seme and in my note 
vremarked I theught she had already seen this item at the time she, 

< Blanche and Aunt Willie had passed'this way. As I think baok 
en that meeting, I vaguely reoall that j did give Aunt Willie 
and Blanehe a box and I assume I g a ve lay ene, tee, but 
en further pondering, 1come up with the possibility 
K that I perhaps did net give lav ene whio h* if true, »»#« have 
seemed strange te lay but didn't seem strange te me, probably, 
because James had written me seme time before that he 
. could use several botes and I had tout a desen, thinking there would 
be a nple for both members of the famtiyi-’ffeW, at this 
Dj.-lato date, I conclude that James must'have accepted the 

desen fer his own use and that lag-had net known about the shipment, 

All of this is of ns oonseqUenoe> ef course, but it r dses demonstrate hot 
much in error I oeuld be en that particular point, 

£i 0 j, fsi-s* bauiaoat su ■ 1. 

Itiis pleasant to report that-Celeste continues displaying 
a normality in nerves in sharp oentrast to the past several 
yearsi Aftersupper tonight, she eatd she wanted to¥ead me ene 
, c ef thg newest nest metes zshe had received in a'long, long 

time. It was from Lyme and I a greed with her it was a pure reflection 

ef its writer,a, a' '■ & ' ■ • ^ *’ * s 

,9t:i isi *■ tad* 09 o* o:oLo 


Monday, December 14th, 22959. 




Memorandum: 


iu 


o* to. t frAgiWod b»as:i actuate sou 

..a ,Ttuiaa«i«ye a t: . k n» a) biartdaiw sow 

jjunau o u sd kt £- 1 i •- 

0 rti ttfst »-'0 i .now et vf ** 

' nio ->At Hi b»Ho-uv ad ILorte I ■ * tut 

Memorandum : afritoooX U® X* 

.ahac ..v *.5'' idairtie &o .afrol »**u*rt bi katio ad 

Sunny and cool today, warmer and moistening fer 
iu the morrow is the premise, ns, ' r; 

, rii‘id\:d aJiMai eJA .aooTIvi wan .. 

Today's pest, net as yet slewed up by holiday 
k mail, brought a neat little packet which ts going to 

serve me in such, good stead before the month Mas played out, 
what with all the galloping up and down this keyboard 
which awaits a flight of-the fingers, 1 never cease to 

marvel hew, in spite of all the preseures, sueh gestures 
of thoughtfulness manifest themselves and I only 
regret that the pressures, both Business and personal, have 
■at:, tie gang up as: they ds. Blessing little Miss Lee, 

•-.o I oontinue hplding the thought that miraoles may 
yet be in the.offing of the peace and good will 
... variety, in the direction of men everywhere and neighbors, 

tePerhaps it is a vpihr hope but hope will continue 
regardless and candles, on every night during Christmae 
week will raise prayers ef- flame that the tensions may 
be lessened* . o \UA na\ tn ' c 

.alii lio ani'o biuM '.joanowaoa'i iaM •. " 

I.saw J* B, at supper. Me said Madam Regard s 
. i' transfer frpm Alexandria to Matehitoches hod been .\isu, 
effected n«ond®a*r« \r i; ' . 

; i- a* baani ' ' 1 «* 

Yi \ n Today 'a pest, ye far as mail addressed to «•* * 

seemed unusually heavy although nobody else get 
dab of secretarial aseistanee impelled me to single ant 
a few letters en the aesumptifu that the odd shaped en¬ 
velopes were Christmas cards, I dtdn t get te 
o finish the letters extracted: but the enclosures mill^ 
ties some notion as to how their messages ran. 
reference to the u ooketspeaks for \tself, Off hand, I 
assume.the date of a ntto of a couple years baok draws near and 
I gather lay is satisfied which is all that matters. 

As for Miss Dormon's epistle, it gives me the impression 
she is doing alright and I must drop her a 
line tonight, returning her oheok and assuring her 
paokage will go forward on the morrow. 




I 





From fhP FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers, #M-3889 in Che Southern Historical Collection, 

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PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


S&SOl: 


10253 




10254 


» .3G. t 4^.1 "t»(J sos'i. t 'vjc i.©-. 

I was disappointed tonight that Inuitatien te 
Learning was withheld in order that a symposium on 
the Eisenhower tear might be broadcast, covering Rome 
to BewDelhi te Greeoe. I found compensation in the subject 
but tomorrow night I shall be fishingaround in the air 
waves again te see if my favorite program may " a - 

bo aired <84 heura late, as sometimes happens. 

, ••HO Tawt ... . 

Earlier this evening I listened to Erick Savereti again 
from Birobe. I must say his reports, bubbling over with 
wit and penetration as always, presented, nevertheless a gloomy 
picture of the nationalistic entitiea that seem t» be about 
, 4 v; *• emerge all over the Dark Continent. Mi *"■ w 

«, It is said that residents of Alaska never hatl it so good 
..has during the years that geo g rap hie entity, was a Terriotry and 
that only with Statehood will its oitieens realise the aetual 
price of being Bo. 49. I suppeet that for decades _ 
to come, the same thing may be said about, the inhabitants 
of more than one Engliehscolony in Africa r the discovery coming 
only toe.late. Even as in i atin.Amerioe, one 
• , -cannot but wonder if the people are equipped for anything other 
than dictatorial rule. > Surely* Just because Democracy 
succeeds in Scandinavia, • Britainzand the U. S. is no 
sign that it is suited for other sections of the globe although 
our political leaders for half a century seem to have proceeded 
on the theory that Deoomoraey would cure all ills. I 
find myself thinking so^often these days of conversations 
with oldsters tn Mississippi and Louisiana* especially in the 
Cane Diver oountry where remembrance of slavery was . ,* 
still fresh in the minds of many, all of whom agreed that while 
slavgry was mighty bad in any form, the' slabst found it 
unbearable to be owned by people of color and much preferred being 
owned by representatives of the other race. suspect 
-many an African*'tomorrow, when under the dominatiomiof 
the newly arising dictators, snob as the one*currently in control in 
Ghana, will soon be looking backward-wistfully to the good 
old days,when the country was administered by European powers. 

\ 4 Y\,0 .\ls83: z aqeTS'Aoo" 9*^ o* so: s ts\an 

hue And now to work before calling it a day........ 

• atj mt 4:.'A4 11:.. el AoiAe bj na.'o uq 1 

asci'. ^ e’norw a: i *te\ 8 

a ts<\ qetb franx* 1 buo frAgitla 9 *' 8 

lUJitua®* fcliu tcsAa naA feniitnu*^ % SAqiue* snii 
urn or. HO btott -A. oq Hits v, float* 


Memorandum t 


.is *• UV 


Tuesday, December 15th, 1959. 

did Ji »n«\od ^nonrtii a . 1 .* S o-.arneo oi R o«s - 

a.',. He aaotou e'slqoec beta' Hiiooms \jLjuo 3B-oo ©Hu 
j« j ta.iaoat sAZ mu t«»ifloi<\ vjft .®HlI \i*t©4 

t aoi •:'' aits - . 4 At ho least'. is i s;S 1 t8*fru*Jiw »yi\ 

3 .-ii 4 doOS 8 cst SKSSJ HCiCtsq OW© 8 \.« loW avs’.sa’i.i 80© 

Memorandum t st :*• i (: :* '* t : : 

. nusn-8^ . ■ • Sissi&Ui b ecus aoi -tsAJo sAi 

■i We did get a spr.inkle, but only asprinkle today, 
and. t\o cold that was scheduled, failed to put in an appearanoe. 

’t ,-.o.a s(.4 rssAw *eu\ % w*Ft \j*u> o • 

J; ooffeesd aor.oss the fence and rejdioed to find 
. mine hostess still relaxed. A somewhat ridioulous continuation 
of the practice, — verbal, at least,- went on, and that 
although she and her husband were going to a party at 
the oountry club tonigh\, she was cutting down on Christmas, 

She was going to town to visit hdr mama around noon and when 
she got there * she probably swooned when she disoevered 
her coffee eompaion had sent het mama a potted plant. If 
she, wife of a millionaire, has to out down on Christmas . how 
oan her poverty stricken neighbor afford to sand an old hospitalised 
friend a plant. You can see readily enough that life oan 
get sot confusing. . jc-o * R 1 

- c e*rs ? : "ost 8ir ii‘ ?..-l \loA z >. '• 1- •: 

■: x While still j in the oof fee cups, 1 was asked how I liked 
this year's Christmas stationary* a stack of boxes of whioh 
had Just arrived from Sister, I believe. I had to oonfess 
I knew nothing about it. When shown one, I was interested 
to discover something mine hostess apparently hadn't notioed, — 
that the design was mine. Mine hostess^ very generously suggested 
that £ deserved some and while saying so, reached over and 
selected, two and presented them then and there. On seoond 
3 though? she inquired if I didn't want the envelopes to go 
with them. I thanks her fete this gesture of largesse and deolined 
the two envelopes, and even handed book one of theoards, saying 
I should be glad to keep the one from my eorapbook although, 
of course, I simply wanted to send it along te Lyme. 
uloo -j . * nno« t.sAi itioiiUan lliie 

,\t Qui.tezunexpectedly, I bumped into a new telephone promotional 
t today thatj although perfectly legal, strikes me as being 
just as immral as it ean be, if immorality covers the 
attempt to selll people with substandard income a service 
they do net need* At the moment, I think I shall give the 
thing am airing in the eolUmn early in •'anuary^but I may change 
my mind between new and then. S asst oot| a flcai-S 











Francois Mignon Papers, fH-5889 


10256 


I was trying to oont a ot the library befare it olaaed 
and oonatantly enoauntered people’s vaioea an the 
party line, By eenatantly picking up the reoeiver every 
five minutes, I get the impression that ene veiee, a weman a 
waa alwaya that ef the same persen whereas each time 
I listened far the dial tene befere dialing, I began neticing 
the ether veioe was different an each go-round • Vhat 
.1 heard, finally, fascinated me. A "veiee with a anile" 
waa apparently asking . everyone using this line, —and 
there are 8 an the party line. Just where ttye speaker s 
'phene was Situated in the cabin* It deesn t really matter 
. u^ . nuQh since all the cabins jwc small enough,-but if the 
A- response was tha$ it was ip. the kitchen, the "veiee with 
a anile" asked if it weuldn t be convenient to have an 
. ext ansien in the living ream, and if it watin the 

living room, wouldn't it be nice te have tn extension in the 
et., etc*, etc • This will be so handy, the veioe oeeeed and 
pill oast only an additional 4 cents a day* The whale business 
struck me as robbing the tiny tot’s piggy bank an an 
attempt thereat, *v i:>i'. ::aV. • "• 0 

«x.o ^iio«s : ae noo ua; •Sn&Lz 

I suppeae I was p a nie-strioken <a -little, tee, what with 
the realisation that a beut half the tine receivers ef ene 
i er another ef the parties an this line ore thoughtlessly 
left off the reoeivef and I began trying to' calculate 
what it would, be like if K the number of patentially ■ 
off reoeiverpdishouM suddenly, be doubled* - If - > * 
t I do the article, I shall probably oall itt "A Phene in 

„ v Every darner", and the title, alone will suffioe to dump 
i the whole Southern Bell System on my neck. But, — 
ef course, I am quite indifferent te that if, by speaking my 


Wednesday, December 16th, 1959* 

o utzhsMai t bIi»V3 biU', 

laiii I Ao*» 

Memorandum: »* 

A little ever a oeuple of inches of rain of the 
8prinkey variety last night and today and tonight the 
same sort of thing continues • As the cold spell 
failed to develops, however, the temperature is very 
pleasant and the good earth is entitled to even more rain 
which it oan manage very nicely without any suggestion 
of high water» 

. ■ 

Between £ and 3 this afternoon, a gleam of sunshine 
■ developed* It was during that interlude that Frances 
Rand 3 Jack j paid me a visit, bringing several of 
her Shreveport girl friends with her • It seems that 
Blythe had invited them to spend the day at the samp, 
and although I did not see Blythe, I did experience some 
pleasant sensations from a bountiful batch of food she sent 
over by Frances, The hour is 9*30 and I have 
just sampled a big bowl of Blythe's chicken and shrimp 
gumbo and wish I hadn't sampled it so lustily for, 

, obviously, it is going to make me sleepy before I 
an done with this keyboard • 

V " A A toAw acoe •» 

Frances said her seoond sen. Bandy t wtll be home for the 
Christmas holidays this week.end. She aays he like Princeton 
so much and his soholastio grades seem to be to everyone's 
satisfaction • . t.: *>4 

;* 'V . , . ^ n 

Whit, Junior, who^ decided not to go to &uke • 
for his graduate work but took a Job with a ' - 
Shreveport furniture and deoorating house, -••the 
same Clif Byrd was with, seems to like his line of 
endeavor and .has just moved to Marshall, Texas, of all 
plaoes, where, 1 assume,, Bemingway-Jo hue on , may have 
a branch est-blishnent*.* ( - 3 '3 ' J( - ;Vt 

*u:o \o stats 

s " c The mail* oontinue increasing in volume as they 

decrease in interest* I smiled to myself when, in today's 

uy/y ■ *>■- . b.:. f v tZiZVX 

" uu y-,iu\ l ,:;i0 1 C0-'b-S3'.!09 0 \ISS 9»I 

"he. 1 Mint B S3 aiMff Q'.u ioo j r IlttZ *OOJ 


i Liao ***’•& 

, t e.u\ bn& » 


OJ O oaree, X am qutve luutjjeromu *j, uy my 

piece, I can diaoourag'e the great American Tel, and Tel • 

• from using such high pressure salesmanship on the simple 
t i souls they are currently w orking on, isv. i 
•Mrin *oodc,...noe \jr s»»\* ot buio i.bicba j 

.c In the <3 area of Postmaster General Summerfield, his 
helpers still maintain their normal, uncertain 
schedule but their sacks are getting heavier, with 
the number of lettersdeclining, gradually* the number 
of post cards inereasing l by leaps am d bounds' " 
mica t, shio-ju; bTobniite- • M n •. Hits ot a .• • 

,a- I want te read p little* tonight, from Edmund Wilson's 

"Piece of My Mind", I can't subscribe to a let of Edmund 
Wilson's processes but I*always enjoy listening to them •••••» 









FRANCOIS MlGNON Papers# #M-3889 in the Southern Historical Collection 
f North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


10257 


Thursday , December 17th, 1959 


. ,i batch, I found cuduplteate of the Bsttiecllt M a denna 
a nd Child, frem Kathekene and James Register, It 
is such apretty card, I liked the 8nd just as well as 
I liked the first, 

As I had a» tieipated. Life sent the c hurohtll velume 
a t» Heiress instead ef te Lyme, I gather the envelepe 
pasted en the package- bears the inuetee and I accordingly 
■■removed, same for further examination,’ Wrapped up the 
•\package and stuck a Lyme add re es en it, I must 
otnfees te you I had te exercise the greatest restrain en my 
ewn impuls e te epen the package te see Life had turned 
eut this jeb but the package, witheut any wrapper at all, seemed 
so well paoked, I theught it better simeply te put a 
fresh dab ef paper around the thing and mail it forthwith. 

Should it turn eut that^the inveioe should be inside the package 
whioh I doubt, I shall appreciate it if you will kindly 
remove it and return same te me, 

•' 5 rr. 5 bi’ ' t »oil t I -V •• - L '- “••• 

I saw the artist at the atorb yesterday morning, I socked 
up a trick with her en Madame Rita.who lives next te the 
sptllway and who ' is on the sgme party line with the 
artist and me ,■ ,1 think a party number never rings 
that Qita doesn t take up her 'phene and listen whioh 
deesn t matter se muoh unless half a do sen ether people 
do the same thing when hearing by anyone thus tuned tn becomes 
almost impossible * in fact totally impossible if the 
call is long distance, Rita's 55 year eld sen lives 
in Bayou Hatches and is about as shiftless and no aooeunt as 
his mama isvtgereus and nosey, Rita adores Regis, her 
offspring, naturally, and se, at the s tore, I told the 
artist we should play a game, playing there was an eld deg 
areund named Regis and to disoues the deg the next time Rita 
got-on.-cup line, ■ w ' . ^ • 

- .3 suit. ell’. • **! 0 v ,; 02u «■ - - - • • 

Jaat night the artist 'phoned me, Sven before 
the artist had had a chance to say Hello-, I heard R ita's 
receiver taken off the %he artist and I inquired 

after the state of our respective healths and then I asked her 
if she didn’t ■think that was terrible, the news about Regis, 

■ c hi allowed es hew she sure diR,whereupon Rita couldn't 
resist a powerful "Huhhhhhhhhhh", and then, realising 
she had betrayed herself at saves-dropping hung up 
The artist was still giggling this morning and said Rita 
had oalled her immediately after I had hung up last night 
to discover what was what. Poor R ita 


Memorandum x ‘■ < - 

. .v , ■ n: . I'.. ti'Toin.;' 

A lovely day, » 

, !» i •' M i V)jQ!l *(\ 3d . i.\ £>>■' .«MA .T61' ■ Ui'.t. 

I was happyito have, t» early morning caller in the 
person of my old friend, Little King, He le a ves for 
Chicago to resume his military career on the morrow, 

; He 8 ays he will probably be sent to the Sohool ( 
of Electronics which, he hastened to explain, doesn t 
require "dL 1 that much arithmetic", This *U8t be 
o good news for him sinoe he never did attempt high 
school, I make so bold as to inquire if this can 
possibly be one of the reasons for the strange doings 
we hear about ee often as exploding Just a bove 
the luanching padw down Florida way •■Smile, 

■ 8 %'S;'..u<5u- '.ai‘ Jj 3*'.4 bib 

t Just hgw the Christmas pattern will emerge at this bend 
of the river is still on the nebular side. On Deoember 6th, 
Sister told Doreatha-, the oook, that inasmuoh as 
site had not as yet received any invitation to oome here 
, for 9hristmas, she didn't know if she mould be coming 

or not. This is an old story, of course, always following the 
.sane design, y^Sinoe she has a home of her own, a husband 
and children, and since probably everybody here 
more happy, —certainly less tense, —if she isn t 
here, nothing muoh is done about pro"Christmas - 
plans, then, on thq day before the great event. Sister 
calls and invites everyone here to spend the day tn 
Shreveport on the —•» Aer —assumption that a like 
iuvitation will be extended for all ef her tribe toe one 
here and that is instantlyacceptedo * 

\ 4: -'VJilCQIf ..3 4Aojllc5 310. lllOll 

It tg said Joe Henry will arrive here on the 
80th, having a two weeks vacation before ’going 
to his new job in Arkansas, Ho body Here and his wife 
in Texas has the vogues notion as to whether he plans to 
stay hare for Christmas, having his wife join him, or if 
. he will ge there, - •• - - -«<•' " 

yi.3 . Amis sjkob •: jit*. nauit. ■ in trie 

Word came, today from Baton Rouge-,’indicating 
the S, Q,'s will oome here for the day following 

. 4.... ,3 I wotio\ *Atoa> V 6 • 

.4‘ 83*x c» s - ad.; b»;c o .. 







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10260 


Friday ,Deoember 18th, 1959 • 


Christmas hut ns sue knows if this ind udss the 
juniers as well as the eeitiers sr net, As Madam 
General has a sister tm the Shreveport area, it is thought 
she and her husband might be journeying in that direetion 
for Sunday dut that is merely a guess, Sinoe Madam 
General and Joe can t stand eaoh other and as Sister 
loathe them both, the elements confronting those 
foolish enough to attempt a prognostication 
. are cloudy indeed • I have aways had considerable 
enthusiasm for the Currier and Ives title 
so^ofteu.used for the uonth of December on its oalondarst 
■Home for Christmas", So many people don't seem to 
ohare\>uy enthusiasm for this three tsord combination, perhaps 
u I had better bestir myself ad do a column on the 
. subject • That ought to elicit as many w& Is as 
did the one about the super-abundance of fruit cakes 
in nspeet to the latter matter, however, I should pause 
ling enough to knook wood as I reporfthat up 
: ^toi,the presept writing^snd there c an be only 7 more 
tnsoming posts before the 1959 Christmas, I haven't 
n as yet received • single, solitary fruit cake, I 

da, hmxex hear the local radio stations advertsting them, home 
so-'*a ssume somebody must be receiving them, 
a. V'j .* .■ t 15 -' 1 -■- ■ 

..lad, speaking ot local radios, I heard tonight 
thaiimsst of the 8t*r«« ia town are not opening on 
Saturday, December 25th, and IxTejoice'for the 
-number of clerks who will thus be a ble to enjoy a 
prolonged week end • I hold the thought that 
greater organisations 'in larger cities may do the same 
thing, tee,. 

The local radio tonight announced that this a fternoon 
a A ppear old ohtld shot and killed hts 3 year old brother with 
their father's f pistol, the father beinj a veteran going 
to oclJLego in the family having five children, the mother 

werking for the M a tohitoohes limes, the children left with 
« ;a maid employed to tend the children. And then 
the politioans worry a bout eshther contraception assistance 
shoul<f be given to India or some such. Surely 
there K s, something wrong with suoh a picture. 

I'll 1 ? tto'V 9.0 Tt i, ST 3. S "CO 6 • • -j 

And now for a d a b of work, followed by a d a b of 
music and thence to rest,,,,,,,, 


Memorandums 


si'.-. .-i t B\l^iiiA Hi J- t I'VUM T 

Cloudy- cloudy this merning, sujny-sueny this 


afternoon and\starry-starry tonight and ••**-■«/» 40-ish, 
v, l f-j ao: v- -3 -iZ ir.av< • ico.-.v - 

lad having saidAhat-muoh, I paused to answer the 
'phone, —Madam Beaufort oalling, I suppose the reason 
for calling was to relate the botanieal names of d 1 the 
plants she had dragged home from Mobile where she went 
l a St week end to invest^in new material to plant 
thee paces on each sideiof the expanding oak alloy 
in front of Beakfort, iu\o\, v 
•..oh si si'.c i.Ho QHiiiToj «i aur loou lo.* \\9 y«o 

I didn't ask her how her family was faring for 
everyonesays Vernon looks as though-on his last 
legs, ,n eiI© c" si ■> ai * £ ni -t a >••* 

a*ie eaal oc !>•- Koiojr\,«uo a- 1 - ^ t* 1 ' 

-s:oo I did think the opportunity a good one, however, to 
mSM-for news.about Carrie who was supposed to have m peared 
as guest-of' honor at itfc* Garden club lungheon-on Tuesday 
and didn't, Beth^admitted she knew all amdc-.ui a 
proceeded to tell, Carrie, it seems, responded'' tu 
to Beth's suggestion of a month ago thatj&eth would 
go to Briarwood, pidk upCarrie, delivery her to 
the luncheon in town and then drive.her back home, 

.~*eth Maid Carrie va« delighted with the prospect and 
that was that until 2 or 3 weeks haok when Carrie worte both, 
saying she wasn't up to making a trip so far from 
.Briarwood and so would have* to let the luncheon go. And 

that was that % according to Beth,i i: 1 - * r o«in- . * si:' 

290CU8 aST.'i <1« 80HQ .3 8U‘t SbttoA \J« - 0 1 

c n naturally, I never breathed a word to'- Beth that 
Carrie had been down'here ayd--appeared to he hitting 
on dl cylinders, >1 also smittsd K saying that I had heard 
from her on Menday and that sho seemed to be alright, 

• ff i V) O X h 

o s What Beth-doesn't know, she can always-fill in with 
an .imagination that always exsseds both the limits of 
aotuality and probability. 










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10262 


10261 


Sunday, December 2Oth, 2959 


All in all, this seems t» be a busy telephone 
night, As I turned this page, I, S, Willard called 
to give me news of Ada Jack Carver and as 1 replaeed the 
receiver, Mildred Cunningham called to invite me to 
some festivities at her house she is planning for 
her children, home for the holidays, what with her 
three sons home from their studies, one-at Tulane, I believe, 
. ■ one, +-thesone who married las* summer, at<£. S, U, Law 
School and the third from some place in Alabama where 
he is studying for the priesthood, 

«oc' unk seooj ' ' jjpb — ,as.o' 

Irma reports that Adat>Jack hasn t yet been able to 
isr. get out frem r under the depression that cams in the wake 
of the death of her husband, DwmidxS JonSnell, sometime 
last winter. From information to hand, I deduce that 
Ada Jack always resented John Shell's opposition te 
any effort Ada Jack made in writing and she is now 
feeling sorry for herself beoause n/ -a -ifhilt complex that 
she resented her late husband's opposition to her 
interest in literature, This is foolish, of course, but 
her mind remains in that confusion and so does she and 
•i K \the substantial fortune John Snell left her i* c»»- 

tributing not a penny to her happiness, < Their son, David, 
by the. way, had an article intlast week's Life about 
the burstingiei the dan at Fro jus, ««an article signed 
in oonjunction'with some^other writer, I believe. 

At* Satis oijo a Jioivr&a^Qus cir 

cl coffeo+ed a crgss the fen oe apd everything seems lovely 
at that^address,w There is anotherparty in town tonight 
which she is attending and the promise of other such in 
the offing must go far in dispensing happiness, 

S'ri air'iooj snv! 1 ') k&iIw zAuwe 6 no a LiSuis tx»\k ecu sum 

redtiif into resting to note the additional waves of 
birds*, that swell their numbers with each new sunset. 

Hits evening, while-Sn my, way to the pig house for 
supper, I dapped my hands just once •»» three successive 
\soeasions and with eaoh gesture,, thousands of birds 
i, rose up from the bamboo, cireled about overhead and then 
b-u settled book again, a re-eotion as Jnotantaeneousuo 
.iand seemingly as magioal as,one rub of the lamp by 
Aladin, 

\;■ jci , 4nd new for some paper,woYk to keep abreast of some of 
the incoming mail a»d.,tfce»ce t* dreamland,,,,,,,, 

iLidodc.nq bur: ytir jIouS oo 


Memorandum: ■ ■■■ '■ 

an eh h«j v .-.» eo>s>* a; 1 

Today, like yesterday, has been fair but a little 
ohilly, 

■ ' o "• • • • ru. c .. 3 ... . kh \ naa.-- oi 

Saturday's post, of course, was fairly he a vy, I found 
the enclosure an interesting commentary of contemporary 

* plantation life in the Carolina lew oountry, Teu will 
find the personalities presented, e spec idly one of them 
of interest, 

. , : u V :.i ’V•, . 3. 3 . 

John ad fhelma Kyser came down this afternoon, bearing 
Christmas gifts from themselves and from the Hysterical 
Women, The Kyser gifts consisted of splendid food 
and a dandy shirt while the Hysterical department presented 
me with a fine leather jacket, conservative in coir and cut but 
a little fanoy inside, what with the satin quilting, I shall 
get much pleasure in weating it for oeremonial occasions but 
shall stick to my old and slightly battered one for digging, 

L il'r- v • ',,0 - ' 0 . iSTcd 

John is beooming impatient to retire from the 

• presidency of Northwestern, He uanin *• write a book. 

He envisions a pattern along the lines ef the Holy Homan 
Empire for central Europe, Was im-Napelen, in 

doing away with that institution, who deolared it to be 
"Neither holy, nor Roman nor empire", 

:■ •: 3 \u X ; £ .1 ' ciU~ U- $iwna. i * . 

As President of the college, John is more or less 
expected by the State Governing Board ef suoh institutions 

H"to be an active member of Seme church and, although 
I believ s he has dways <.boon an atheist, he bowed to 
necessity and joined the Episcopal Churoh and he finds having 
to attend something that grates ion his nerves, I believe, 

■' In polities, he in dines toward the conservative persuasion, am 












From the FRANCOIS fllGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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10263 


Monday, December Slat, 1959 


\q h&.a'J ir«o again* wow u-taal o'-r 

v,v.v. .1.’ • d< iuc '' 1 baiict y isnay mn> f.iuixs •• * 

Memrodndumt — t 

■. 1\ n • • ito o 1 1 ■' ... . O a • s: ... • . -uie 

Clpudleaa and cool. 

»»o*o«>nw a»U i - a »«« ot'i 

And regardlea8 af the date line, it ia 
Chriatmaa at Tucca, what with a big, aquare white 
candle, festooned in 0 hriatmaa oolara aflame in 
the picture window tonight, the 1900 calendrier 
V here beaide me, with each pioture more lovely 

than the one before and a panel of atained glaae 
,,, suspends d temporarily in that eectien of the 

pioture window juat^below the oampaurtment occupied 
by ffephrite • 

.-.'.Mr- 0 B*b‘\0'. S'. L 04*- 4k; 13 on41 on X 

A Chriatmaa box and a letter from ±yme in today'a 
poet and ia it any wander the Chriatmaa fell an 
the Slat of Deoember tbia year. '"<■ i 
' . n.jn--n an.'.oan • . no ii.no i .1 itjq;: sti 

. e ,Ian will be glad fa knew that both letter and box 
traveled in perfect condition and you will underatand, 

I feel euro, if I confess I couldn't wait until 
Friday to explore the contents of the one and the other 
r j 30 ni vtulo so s' a .os z .* 'Vc suiii pibwi 

‘A3 alwaya, I found it aemetfi&nvs akin to vandaliam 
to disturb^ the exquiaite wrappinga and I 
waa mpat careful to tranapart the packagea aoraaa the 
fence immediately an separating.them from the 
larger paokage in which Santa had been ae artfully 
tuoked. The hour waa 1 tZO thi a Afternoon and there 
.> wae nebedy at home so the lady undoubtedly found 

them on her zeturn from town tonight, for r placed them 


on would come cloaer to b ing hia choice than 
elae who haa a chanoe to be in the running . 

e abreaat with everything and reads moat of the 

and more eurdite boeka and I like ohatting with Jit* 
have the aame viewpoint in nothing and it i 


Tori: *» ■***»•«?? ** *• *»*•«•«»» 

to hear him outline hia paaitiona an everything. 

Jss Usury rsuodsd MsMsudss by cur frsm Wa^iuytsu 
thia afternoon and came down here about 6»30, ae that 
* he, Cole a to, J. B. and I aupped together aeroaa 
the fenoe. He waa atill in the big house when it 
waa time for ua to ait down to the beard and so I went 
and pioked him up. Hia greeting waa na oarial aa aver. 

1 naked him if he had seen hia new grandchild, —hia 
only grandchild • He aaid he had, th<\t he waa sorry 

a b.y altd asked « U ««» «ere fr ingl ng a, 

< the ahild a C^atholio .. Isn't *i it quaint 

what aeon a important .to people • 

. , \ tt < *; u • * ‘j » ; .. . • ‘ V O'* 1 S*.' O i' 4 *- 01-' * 

■ \ I got around to do a little reading from 
Jaoquea Barsun'a Hauat of Intellect lost night 
and eni eyed the first two or three ohaptere before 
, j my head. ,began nodding and I b0 9 an Voiding up• I 
think 1, ehdLl hav another go at it tonight if I 
t have luck with my desk work. 

I haven t heard much rac^ie news bout the Paris 
gathering although what little I have aught up with 
doesn't so^und so premising. I was impressed by a , d 

Joseph Marsh broadcast from Paris lost night in whioh he opi e 


manioc 


boo nsinboaioo 

SSS'J: 3 

.... »' 










Francois Mignon Papers, #M-3889 


in the Southern Historical Collection 


From the 

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10266 


to learn how -things turned out when the day of the 
impending anniversary rolled 'round, The vases of 
frienship are so rare, —especially those extending over 
suoh a long span of years, that one oan but be¬ 
moan one of them be'ing craoked . I suppose 
the most deplorable thing a bout the wreckage 
i aohievod by the bull in the china shop is not 

j- so much any possible*, damage done to the bull or 

to the shop but to the vases that may be truly 
said to belong to parties of the s econd part, having 
no particular interest either to shop or animal • I shall 
continue holding the thought that the topmost vase 
may not topple and that some miracle of good sense 
maypreserve the vase ihtaetm 

. M O''', M 

q j ran through the lost word's communication with 

, u , interest and regret now that I did not remember its 
i ,• date in relation to the telephone conversation with 

la word wherein she observed the impending books had to 
be held udin publication • I reckon I remarked upon 
..... .sjvro .tbi* at tfttott ime. But suoh a comparison of 
t date8 would be pointless anyhow since I think the 

i habit, already so generously demonstrated by the lady 

and her companion of playing fact and loose with cp pointments 
is indicative of the same type of play ia other 
. v,. _ j c- it. fields, 

. . 

I retain a letter from James, giving me an address 
of a wan doing research on skunks to whom I want to write,— 
to the man, not the skunks, A letter from Helen which 
\'.I didn't finish: but shall send along later, indicates 
she heads out for a triparound the world by the 
■ », - v middle of the ooming month • I must get a 

‘ letter off to her, giving the boy friend s Rangoon 
address, assuming he is still stati'oned there •• I 
am glad for Helen but Lordy, Lordy, how folks do getaround, 

M uliit: iaK 0:1 4 ::Q0 frBCQ e’yobftS 

’ ; 0 Perhaps I shall arise early in the morning and knock 

t s . off a few letters before daybreak, I am not going 

to touch this machine tonight, following this brief 
3... memo for, as indicated a bove, tonight is Christmas Eve 
V o and I want to relax i s my amohair, hard by the 

pioture window, obser the stained glass and the glow of 
i. the big>Sldi oandle and turn through the oalendrier and 

a ponder on the goSdnese of Cod and little Miss 

Lee of Lyme for making my Christmas such a happy one .•••••• 


Tuesday, December 22nd, 1959 


Memorandum : 


Pleasant although mildly on the cool side • 

I ooffee-ed across the fenoe this morning inhere 
the lady expressed delight in finding paokages for herself and 
mama from Lyme when she returned home last night • After the 
supper hour, she journed back to town again, her husband going in 
for a meeting, providing her with an opp>ortunity to look 
in again on her mam a who seems to be doing pretty well but 
,has minor stomaoh or inteninal upsets and gets tired very easily whioh 
is certainly understandable enough • 

3hs so os .aiipuitf©*; « v •• •o «‘'0 a bfc.uaj.'; 

Blythe oame to see me this afternoon, bringing her son, 

Pual King Band with her, he being down from Manhattan 
for a few days » He heads the medioal staff of Western Union 
and I asked him about the recent leak in Washington that 
indicated Western Union was in a panoi because it was rumored 
the Post Offioe Apartment bad been fiddling with a prooess that 
would transmit facsimiles of letters from one Post Offioe to another 
across the nation in a matter o. seaonds, thus treatening the business 
of wire transmission by Western Union • He said the process 
was too expensive at the moment to justify instantaneous transmission 
•f communications by the prooess outlined as having been 
experimented with by the &ojernnent, He said the 
President of Western Onion didn't seem worried about 
nV competition on the part of .the Government, 

Yesterday afternoon Joe Henry left for Texas • On learning 
from Celeste that the General and wife would be here for Saturday 
and Saturday night', Joe decided he wouldn't return with 
his wife until Sunday afternoon Since Joe always > 
keeps the pot boiling with Madam General, it is perhaps just as 
well that the arrrangemente should pan out in this fashion • 

How the Shreveport contingent is going to fi\t into . 
the pioijure is something T haven t heard about as yet 
and don t much care, 

ne. ; v . • t - . . • toihw i&AV i i- - ; 





From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
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10267 


The artist called me today to say she had seen Joe Henry 

at the store yesterday morning and had toalked with him for a while 

before the post arrived • s he said the s tore was full of people 
and that foe was making much loud talk i bout his delight 
with what the artist and I had effeoted at bans* I suppose 
the General will h a ve a look at the plaoe on Saturday or Sunday 
for he 1 8 always interested in suoh matter , ■‘his means that up 
to the present only the General, J, H, and Joe have had a look 

at the plaoe, and only Joe has seen it sine e the friese was put 

into plaoe, --and speaking of the latter, he-was delighted when he 
discovered the figure of his mama, disguised in blaok faee in the 
seotion devoted to moseying to Churoh, To the rest of the family, 
the ~hana restoration means something less than nothing and I am 
the happier if none of them ever get to look .at it, 

4'ijd li&cv. c oi v a as oflw c*‘.>3S to* 1 , Rc r* « - 

The mail continues he a vy both as to letters and oarde. 

The enclosure is from J, S, Willard, T t it wa9 
attached a oheok which I an returning to her as she must have 
forgotten she had already paid for the merchandise it was supposed 
to have oovered. She is suoh a ikipd hearted person 
but one who lets details either smoother hen or get away from her 
so readily, 

or.'", a ■ i; as ..si *« l. i - • tai -• 

.... Lots of natters have olained my attention today so that 

I am again looking forward to another session tonight that will 

duplicate last night's. The 8 tained glass panel is hard beside 

me in the picture winjdow along side the great white oandle and the 

oalendrier convenient to hand for another vayoage a bout 

Paris, Last night ms so pleasant and I shall be in a hurry 

to get my mail out of the way tonight so that I may repeat it, and 

the sitting made the more fulsome by the presenoe of my favorite musical 

discs already, "sot" to spin, t 

I don't recall if I mentioned that I rigged up a fine shed 
for the peaooeks so that whenever they arrive, there will 
be open house for them, I like to get feathered friends started off 
on their first go at food and their first place to roost at a spot 
where I want them *te concentrate their presence in the future and T noti 
.the first plaoe ; they eat and sleep seems to set a permanent inclination 
habits, ■ ts:?rr.4r..oo • n v-n 


And so I break off from this little chat and turn to 
the mail, after which will come another 
delightful Christmas Eve withe the telepathy department 


10268 


Wednesday, December 83pd, 1969, 


’ Hemerm duns s ’ 

* Cloudy, sprinkley and chill. 

How I wish that was all that might have characterised 
the Lyme neighborhood' of late, I listened to radio 
reports of the 7 inches of snow, multiplying the 7 inches by 
all the white stuff that would be necessity have to be piled 
up on top of itself, wondering the while what it would ^-e 
* doing to put a orimp in little Miss Lee's pre- 
Christmas plane, I shall be so interested to learn 
how her personal problems, oaused by the weather, were 
sol ited. 

At Yucca it is Christmas eve again tonight, e yen 
as it was last night and the night before and I am relishing 
the whole business, Christmas oheer is beginning to flow 
in variousplaoes about the neighborhood, if one may judge 
from the sounds of muffled hilarity about the store. 

This oasis, however, will remain oompqratively- dry until 
Christmas morning and probably by then 

interruption,,,,,l t r 

* The telephone rang. It was Joe, ^calling from Conroe, 

He recognised my voice and'I hie. He had oalled 8048 and the 
operator had rung 8043, Having deoided yesterday or the day 
before, on leaving here that he and'Juanita A, would spend 
Christmas over there and oome here on Sunday afternoon, in typical 
fashion $ be changed bis mind and called to g<ny that he 
and Juanita A, would return here tomorrow afternoon. With 
the big house todey rigged up for the reception of.the General 
and wife, it will now be ready and oocupied by Joe and wife 
and the military contingent may park where they may when 
they get here. Should other members of the f amily 
deetde to oome, they, also, may be tuoJped in where over and so 
everything ought tq, be just dandy, \\ . i; . !3 * . i v 
...* •>(, tola ?i>ll &.■ ass i'.oii'a b'.-tn'.oJLo 












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1C 269 


10270 


The mail continues to mount and the secretaries 
vanish, J ; have given up opening packages fez. a while, 
being already swamped with more bundles than I know what to do with, 
I notice a package from Bob Hlson in today's post, something from 
Carl and Lillian Harness, a package from Cuba, Hew Tork, which I 
assume to be a five pound cheese and something from Visoonsin 
which will probably turn out to bs from S a yrah Jones, etc,, eto, 
Tomorrow will probably be the big dish in the parcel post 
section with atriokling off <& ong about Saturday• I 
suppose la Spinks fronProokett will be ebming through 
with something in the food line and probably Hiss Mah will 
also be in evidence Shortly, —at least a sample of her 
oookery, sene miracle and perhaps some of my propaganda 

of last year or the yea^before, the fruit cakes don t seem so 
be in evidence as yet and, for that reason, Christmas packages 
seem more varied as to shape and-weight this go-round, 

*• V. fe SB SB* 1 •• 1 • ' • v • % ' 1 

What with the East coast being hn hour ahead of us, I 
stumbled into the Eisenhower arrival from his Asiatic 
travels last night just at the conclusion of the 20 
o'click news I have no doubt everyone on the Presidential 
plane may well have got oaught up oli' their bleep while making 
the Atlantis hop ahd I should think they all would have 
needed something of the sort, I thought the F resident's 
voice sounded not at all tired and I hold the thought 
he may have just awakened prior to touching down at home again, 

Texas seems to be making quite a to-do a bout the 
death of Walter ifilliams, officially recognised by seme agenoies 
as the last surviving soldier of the C ivil w ar, 1 suppose 
lots of people, <sven ds I, take the Lillians personality 
more as a symbol of •the Confederate Army a» aobualpartioipa nt 
in that struggle'• There has been so muoh discussion about 
the probability that he was confused about the magical number of 
117 years as to his age that 1 take it that he may well have 
been born sometiste ^after Appomatox but I reckon that doesn't matter 
mitoh just so long'^as he has Served a spmb 1 for solidarity 
in the afterhsdth ef x the war tha* never should have been started, 
an scl. \jq bftiquooo x«r> *•» :«•>« Liioi x* * »\. 4 » 

The letter from Helen speaks for Itself, J, H, says he 
would ad dies no lady to tour the Far East because facilities are 
difficult enough for a man, I was pus sled by the five day step 
planned for Singapore which seems like alot of time on a 
schedule that is so lacking in time but perhaps Helen wants 
a breather to do some artioles which is understandable. And 
now to work,,,,,,,. 


Thursday, December S4th, 1959, 


Memorandum: 

’ ft *" O JT oil 1 . 0 o ' • • ■ l._ vJ *• ' If * -J OJ ' 

Lo vely, cloudless and .sort of ^60-ish, 

I learned over the coffee cups this morning that 
the .General has a grandson, a very tiny grandson, I believe, 
perhaps six weeks old. Celeste wasn't sure, S . G, Henrys, 

junior, h a ve adopted a bb a by son to serve as brother for their 
adopted daughter, Susan and everybody seems delighted a bout it, 

, . f'-rv -. , • « - + r l r' ‘ ‘ ft . iw 

It seems there -.was much telephoning baok and forth or 
around and about last nigh-t as between or ameng Melrose, 

Shreveeport and Baton Rouge, It started when Sister got her 
husband to telephone the -General, —of dl things, — 
to explain help was needed because John Wenk wasn't behaving. What 
the General was supposed to do about John at home in 
Shreveport wasn't clear to anybody and so the Gneral oalled J, H, 
and so the merry-go-round began and lasted quite 
a long time, as I understand it. Somehow in the midst of it all, 
the news about the new grandson oame to the surface and that was th 
I learned all this over the coffee oupsat 9 this morning, and 
Celeste seemed happy that Joe and Juatta A, would be hers •» 
Saturday when the Baton Rouge a» dS hr eve port oontingents sill both 
be here, it is said, ■' ' 

’ : As I got ready to foresake the coffee. Celeste pointed 

to the little table in the corner of her living room, asking me 
if there were any red .berries of any kind she oo uld use to 
brighten the corern, I. said I was sure there were ample supplies 
but asked why she didn't use the lovely asellts graoing her front 
gallery, &he didn't know there was one there and immediately 
stepped out to observe and was perfectly . deLighted with its 
beauty, Thefawas a oard attached-and- she examined same, pioture 
her disappointment and my surprise when it was dsicveered 
the envelope was addressed to me and the oard inside 
betres the name of A, J• Hodges, • 1 1 s 3 B j 






V 


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OVSJVt 


10271 


10272 


(’• ■»'*! 1 1 

f • » *- 


Friday, 

Christmas Nigpht, 1959, 


SS i i- ' 

is 


t This afternoon, Ann Britton called me from the Chamber 
of **ommeroe to say somebody from Hodges Cardens had stopped 
at the office yesterday to abk the way to Melrose, saying that 
a package was beling delivered for me• I assume it was brought 
down here and placed »n Celeste's gallery and nobody had 
noticed it last night for it is always dark when Celeste 
gets back from town and J • H, returns fromthe offioe, 

At supper tonight, —J. H, and I supped alone, —he told me 
he believed *\adam Regard probably wouldn't make it muoh longer 
that a few months or perhaps a year, net beoause of the hip but 
t because of general slewing down of vitality, I gather he got 
, his impressions from conversation with the doctor, 

. ■ ... . . ■ . t 

After today's post came, although I did net open 
the packages or letters, I began preening myself on the faot 
•u. that for one year, at least, I had eluded the fruit oaks batalHot 

r>., but my^reoord was broken this afternoon when Carmen arrived, beari 

few siPbs which I shal contribute to the general cause here 

_ Saturday r-xu»<$ Sunday, o 

o ue dos Aiis'-H «Ao\» se 

I might have added in passing that the rose axellia 
has already been contributed to the decors across the fenoe for 
oddly enough, it was just about the right thing for the 
place where Celeste wanted some ooloir 

v,;,. ^ oil' 1 1'/tl Sift lice : OT \. V-'O I’M 0013 6W91i 5/0' 

■ >.,i Only three telephone calls have come in sinoe I began 

chatting with you and I ecu well imagine the ^incoherence 
must be fearful and wonderful. One thing about the 
Venk thing I probably failed to inolude ,ts the f act that 
Lloyd is now being persuaded to resign from L m S.U, before 
the mid term examinations and to join the air feroe but whether 
this will be achieved or not, nobody seems to know, 

4 nn .1.4211 *154*. V J t&K’lOO «• 

This memo, of course, will not go forwards until 
Saturday’s post when tomorrow’s memo will be added • 

Enterprise this week will go forward Saturday, too, I 
might add for the reader,^ not a resident of Natchitoches, 

„ . that the statue of the old negro in town bears some 

. t such legend as "is the Coed Barkis", and J assume 

the knowledge of such, afi inscription on it will make 
o., a little more comprehensible the reference to 

the statue in the Done iuer Memo of this week which 
was intended in part to serve as a looking glass for 
those who originated the inscription oy\ the town 
monument,,,,,,,. 


Memorandum 

iiu ci’Jie i ■ ■ ->•' “ Cl i • - •• *•' _ _■ ' ■ 

Unlike the rest of the oountry it has b een fair 
-and warm all day and so it is tonight, * 

It has also been the pleasantest Christmas I ever spent 
in the Cane^iver country, what with everybody so gay and 
relaxed and withal happy, t 

. t .... 

My day started about 5 this morning when some of my 
eld friends, currently living in Houston, reached the 
plantation, after driving sinee midnight and I was delighted that 
they felt like dropping in to wish me a Merry Christmas before 
getting a little rest. 

Between 7 and 10, plantation folks passed this 
way in groups of ,2*s and 3 's and possibly 6 's and 8's, 
with a single stray appearing in between, I suppose 
these negre neighbors number about 75 or 100, 

* , 13 CJ .» .Jo - • • A- ... * 1 • v , 

We dined at lit 30 across the /enoe, — Celeste, Juanita A,, Joe, 
J, H, and I, The food was marvelous, the conversation sprightly 
and everyone finding the world in as favorable a light a s I, 


J• H, gave, me a telegram and read me ene addressed 
to him, c eleste and Madam Regard, * reokon A un t nits m 
h a ve signed the one to thecas Cousin Wtllte for 
come to think of it, it would be odd for la Stone signing 
Aunt to Madam Regard since both girls are so'near the 
same age* f 0 * 


must 


Baok home for an hour or two thitafternbon, 

Pat oame along bearing gifts from him dnd Juanita B, 

and a box he said Juanita B, had picked Up at the bus 

station in town for me, same -having bsen sent 

by the oo\et from Shreveport, The way the Rooket and 

the Word use the bus for delivery service it a sight. Pat 

said he would be glad to rig up the radio Which the box 

‘contained, if * wished him to, I certainly did. He 

says it s a good radio and I n sure it anat be, what with 

all the wheels and reels adorning it, tl There is, among 

other tfciflgp^, an electric olook uilt into the thing iohioh turnns 

the thing on or off whenever it is properly set and there s sous 






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•+ 




10 273 



10274 


» 


Sunday, December 27th, 1959, 


sort of an arm that turns the laole business on and other 
things for whatever but I asked Pat to skip all 
the rest, just teaching me how to get the thing turned on 
qnd off, After * get sense enough to do that I may or 
may net explore some of the other gadgets, 

I sent a potted plant to the offioe of the Lost Word 
earlier in the week, thinking that if she and the Rocket 
might be vaoationing somewhere, the offioe staff at least might 
enjoy the plant in the days prior to Christmas, As I 
had heard from neither of the girls and had no notion where 
they might be, I let the potted plant represent a 
holiday gesture and oommunioated^ffith neither beyond that, How 
anyone can guess where either of them might be at an y time 
is beyond me and I certainly had no intention of trying, 

Pat asked me to join Juanita B,, Joe and wife and J, H, 
laoross the fenoe for afternoon ooffes whioh I did, Celeste 
returned froik being with *adorn Regard before dark and we 
chatted dnd supped together until 8, Among other 
things talked about was the nioest people we know and 
Celeste brought to the dining room table the perfectly lovely 
gift she had reoeived from little Hiss Lee and it made 
the rounds to ever one s pleaamure before being returned 
to the ooffee table in the living room. 

In between suoh social activities aoross the fenoe, 

I got in a bit of 'phoning for one or another of my 
neighbors, Murphy's boy was stabbed in the ohest by 
McKinley's boy, —cousins, and is hospitalised in rather 
serious condition. An automobile went into the ditoh bearing 
a Metoyer, o Balthasar and a Robiaux as far as the Parish 
jail for drunken driving, etc,, and a few people were 
killed or torn up in the Kgmpti area in auto mishaps. 

And $o the day played out, so mi^oh like the pattern 
obtaining in so many othqrplaoes, I suppose, 
except fod, ice, snow end oold probably made things 
mucb worse in most of the other sedtions of the nation, 

Tonight my ^hristnas oandle burns brightly just below 
the stained glass panel and my thoughts flow toward lyme 
which has had a measure of peace, I trust,.,,,,,,. 




(U 



Memorandum , 

Cloudy and sprinkley all day yesterday and today, 

. You probably don't realise it but we have already 
had one little chat, this e vening, half of whioh got 
Motted out when this ribbon decided, not to reverse and 
withal unkonw to me iuntil 1 had finished, I shall accordingly 
try again if you don t mind .the repetition, 

\ o'\S- , ;i •• «'*• '*• L ’’ 

It ha8 been the happiest week end I can remember in the 
last couple of decades, but also among the more hurly-burly, 





I flattened cut about 11*15 on Friday night but 
decided to leave my lovely Christmas g candle aglow in the picture 
window for a while so I might enjoy i.t from a new angle, 

. About 21:45 cane a, tap at my window. It was Y, C,, 
son of our former co ok, now living in Shreveport, Y, C, 
is either a full fledged gangster, 1 imagine J»ut he and 
I are old friends and I was glad to see him. He had just 
arrived from Brpwnsville on the Mexioan border, had stopped 
at the honkey tonk for a couple ef drinks and. seeing my 
Christmas candle as he passed along the far side of the 
b a mboo hedge on his way to his grandpa's house on Little 
Riven, he had braved the high fenoe and tapped oh my 
window. He hadn t eaten ip too long a time and 
I gave him meat and drink. As he had eaten all a giant f 
could possibly swallow, his eyeq caught sight of Carmen s fruit 
cake and hen be-moaned he couldn t eat a piece, he being the 
only negro 1 ever'knew who liked fruit cake, He had muoh 
to tell me about his mama and sisters,. Melviny and Enmalee, and his 
little old brother Beau Mack, jr, T, C, himself is 
huge, a8. a man but declares Little old Melivy is as tall 
as he, I suppose he has long sinew deserted his own wife 
and two children for, after all, he was but 18 when he married and 
was twice a proud papa at 19, so that for a man, now 84, 
you can reaily understand how fan back six years must seem to him. 


j-d had tom his pants when soaling the fenoe and was glad to 

make use of a needle and thread I always keep handy for 
such emergencies, *y It 30 he was ready to go on toward 
^■Little River, seemingly happy at renewing old ties and 
, with his Christmas , including a bag of big red apples, 





05 



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10275 



. •. .t 3. «>t5i—-v»- , 


sugar coskies and Carmen s fruit cake* 

. '■ O- .. >" :v j 1 ■■ i. • •: 

I flattened out again for meditate sn the world, leaving 
only the Christmas candle aglow in the window, About 
8 another tap pt the window, this one from a returning native, »• 

, in Houston, back to home base for the week end, He, too, 

was hungry and I fed him and we chatted until 3 when 
he went on his way, Again I flattened out to drink in 
therestful light of the candle and before I knew what was what, 
the new radio went off at the magical hour of 5 and it was 
. - time for me to get going, • •=>>•■ 

We dined at Hie big house, during the morning, 

5 Joe had changed his mind five times as to whether he and 

, Juanita A, would dine here with kin folks• At 11, Juanita B, 

t . was preparing dinner for Pat, Joe and Juanita A. when 
, . . Joe changed his mind again and so everybody came here, Juanita 

i .5# came to Yucca and we had a glass of port before the clan 
assembled in the nning room where we joined them, —oil of 
r jihe Venks, the General and wife, Joe and wife, Pat and wife, 

J, H, and wife, being the most notable around a board 
that included two or three other guests, Dr, 

Venk said he wanted to come over to consult with me during the 
i, afternoon, I told him that would be fine* vOn 

arising from dinner, J i. H, suggested e verybody go over to his 
house for a while, 1 withdrew to *ucoa, fhinking to 

■ \ ' give the Menrys x a go at each other, Joe and Juanita 

wpnt to town and Pat and his wife followed o 
shortly and Celeste went to see her mama at the 
•,i u. , hospital , K I never did see any more tof the Venks, it , 

being explained the doctor had a virus* of some kind and w a an t fe 
1: well, Only John Venk remained and he, J, d,$nnd 1 

supped alone* ■ L beGeneral and wife had gone to visit Madam 
i Regard andafter l that had gpne to see Pat’s new house where 

t they bumped slap ipto Pat’s papa and his wife. It 

. is said Joewdsilike a blook of ice to the Baton^ouge 

copule while Pat and Juanita B, were heroic in 
their warmth of hospitality to introduce a thaw but 
*i unsuccessfully, The General and wife returned to 

the hospital and Celeste took t hem to the''ountry Club for 
supper Q»d that was that, —dull stuff enough but a picture 
% of how 1 could be so muchi at Yucca enjoying myself • 


Hie Joe Henrys returned, to Melrose thisafternoon and will remain 
for a week if Joe doesn t changed his mind • I continue 
concentrating on mail but was so happy to 



10276 


1. >> 


1 


Monday, December 88th, 1959, 


Memorandumi 




-:.4 


; •x ‘i t; ■ 
©At 

, : 


1 J 1 


Clear and chilly, 

. 


quo 


-si 


I don’t know if I mentioned yesterday that along a bout 
first dark last night. Celeste" 1 phoned me from town, saying 
thatshe and J, H,, Joe and his t/ife wouldn t be down for supper 
but that J, H, was bringing me some barbecue, I asked her 
how things were go-ng in town and she responded : —Ob, so-so", 

In due time J, H, brought me the barbecue and we ohatted a 
few minutes before he left for his house, —general talk 
about impending plantation projects and Ghana transplantings, 

Along moout 9i30, the artist ’phoned me. She said Jackie 
• had come oome from theShreveport hospital where she had 
been having skin grafts and that the a rtist’s half sister who 
lives in Shreveport aid works somewhere near the V e nk home, 
had come to see Jackie before she left and had told her that 
when the^enks reached home on Saturday night, they had 
encountered two intruders in their house and that the 
latter, on being surprised, had slashed Sister across 
the breasts, Jackie had asked the artist what I had 
had to r eport about it, 

. ■ ..■>■■■. < ■ • ••••■’ t 

I thought about Celeste’s "Oh A so-so" which might have 
covered a rush trip Ho Shreveport but‘the f a6H that J, H, 

- hadn t said anything a bout it seemed odd. At breakfast 
this -morning, Joe and the clerk being k present, as well as 
Juanita A,, I inquired what her plans were for the day and when 
she said she and Juanita B, were going to Shreveport, that 
somehow seemed to fit into something but when I asked if 
she planned calling on Sister she laughed and replied in the negativ 
Obviously nobody here had heard a »yibiny about the Venk business, 

I feel perfectly sure if anything extraordinary had really happe 
Sister would have been the first to scream about it. My guess, ther 
is that she must have made 'up some ridiculous story for local 
or her own neighborhood consumption, even as she used to in 
Cloutierville, up-setting her mother in the middle of the night 
by wild tails or tales of attempted arson, etc,, etc,, etc, I 
ca^rim wonder what next will be coming from up that way • 






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;>! 


10277 


, .5 I i •>£. n 






in 


Much to my deli$ht, today's post was exceedingly small, — 

only a couple of letters and they of no interest. The 

clerk said there was next to nothing for distribution, in-coming, 

almost less of out-going although I, for one, had contributed 

about 15 or 20 to the cancellation department but 

I guess I must have been the only on? in. this area who 

had had the leisure for writing over this busy week end. 


Carmen called me this morning U recite her many 
indulgenies over the week end and said that among oth 
she and her sister had dropped in at the hospital 

_ j . * _ . < “ • & J. 1 # 1 ... n__ _ 


ther things, 




Z 40 


1 


on Friday 'or Saturday to say Howdy to Madam Regard. 

As they chanced to arrive just as the patient s supper 
was being served. Celeste invited them to sit in the lounge with 
her foa little ohat while her mother supped l. Carmen said that 
Celeste fqli that while her mama s hip was doing alright, it 
was dbvious that so many other complications were afoot that she 
felt perfectly sure Madam Regard would never get back to Melrose. 
This seemed to fit in rieatly along side whdt J., H. opined 



Bi. 


Vt !ijitM 


U 1 






career of the^ian was ofgreator ..interest than 
the memofres he wrote which probably isn t too sur¬ 
prising. ‘ As the memoires begin along about 1807 or some suoh, 
ydars after he had lived half a dosed lives, and , 
coyer nothing about his career as a biihop, as a revolutionist, 
anAdbassador to England under Ran ton, a refugee in 
Philadelphia, Asylum, Albany,, etc Foreign Minister 
during the Jrectoir, etc., eto.,i is easily understandable 
that people reading the several volumes should be dis¬ 
appointed to discovernothing muck but particulars about 
mid Empire and Restorationuears and nothing a bout Ancien Regime 


1 : 00 . 1 . 

hi OJ 


and American interlude. 

. »>S'\3 3 0 1190 9 t liO i OTCf' i 3». J0 iOO.V 




i iaafi a*': ini 
.AAOiOll MOiO 

I feel like a musicals might ,pj in order and as soon 
as-'I do fa dab of mail, I Shallattempt one, —- 
they are so excellent, I find, the the matter of telepathy...... 




10278 


hoc 


Tuesday, December 29th, 1959. 


I 


Memorandumi 


OT *13^ 


Fair and cool. 

I am not sure if 


,9iii9» oft* s;. »Ai si § ULoa-i up} 

____ v mentioned the episode of Judge Jones yesterday 

and ‘so I shall run the risk of repetition because that soalawag will 
always remain one of the blots on the bench in the history of 
this Parish and this little conversation will amuse you. 

o si eiai " '"-osiA ma-,/.,: ' - ill > '• , 

My 'phone ran at 9 o'clock and when I responded, a 
voice saidt "Who is speaking", —on qp proaoh whioh never fails to 
ruffle my feathers. Maturally I asked if 8045 was being oalled. 

It was and the caller was trying to oontaot Lestan. When it was 
found, the connection had been established, the voice allowed as how it 
was Judge Jones • 

He' explained that he had written a book and wanted the name of a puklis 
Someone in town had suggested he call me but he said he preferred 
talking to Harnett Kane • I was delighted to hear him rattle off 
dL 1 this and naturally I assured him that he had been so right 
in his impulse to do business with Mr. Kane and that I would be 
delighted to give him the Kane address which I did. 

We talked a little further and. the Judge said he always 
read my Cane"iver Memo and now that he had talked with me, he 
was beginning to feel he would rather do business with me that Mr. 

Kane. I told him that in that respect that he w as quite wrong for 
I was just a .country boy without experience in the publishing business 
while Mr. Kane was a man of vast affairs who had examined lots of 
peoples manuscripts before theywere s ent to publisher's, eto., etc., 
and that I thought that the personalities of the Kane and Jones type 
could function to greater satisfaction of everyone *ha» any two I 
could think of. he Judge seemed surprised that I should have 
known who he was or anything about hts personality but 2" 

assured him his fame had been known to me for ‘decades and that in oollaborai 
with some of my plantation friends, I had even written a play about him 
in which he figured as the judge is a Hatchitoches trial. The 
judge seemed. ajs.t*n.ished and was dying for particulars but 1 told 
him that my publishers would not be releasing the play for some time 





» 





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10279 


10280 


Wednesday, December 30th, 1959 


but that I would let him Know just as soon as it wa» in print, 

Then he asked if he might come to see me and I said that he might 
although 1 suggested that as my schedule was rather tight at the mome. it, 
would do better to await a call from me and to this he agreed, 

. - 0 - T • 

You may recall he is the one who sentenced the poor carpenter 
whose arm J, H, Williams had broken to jail for several years, and that 
his g avel had broken and hit the carpenter in the head, when 
Jundge Jones had i pounded the bend and screamedt 
. 

* i'll let all you niggers know that this is a white 
man's world.,,,,," 

— , 

, So I was delighted all around with the Jones appeal to me, thinking 
it an excellent opportunity to "set a thief to catch a 
theif", for 1 cannot say l which one I think is the bigger bag, 
but I hope Barnett may take the judge for a tremendous ride just 
as the judge himself has taken so many other people, -Mind, of 
course, the same may be said for Harnett, 

'ofivrs'' a*io \ b j t m'A b ill -• 

The ladies are having a great time frying up and down the 

! ,. rj:\ 9 b- . • . B«' r ^ 1 '■ ■ '• " • S,i; “ '■ 

toad and tonight there s a bridge game in progress across the 
fence. 

On this side of the fence, 1 did quite abit of digging in 
the ground but took an hour's interlude when Father 
iCallahan came to see me, He had much to say about someof his 
problems as President of Duquesne University and we explored . s: 
educational m, tters generally, Over a glass of port , we 
attempted a definition of education but got no further 
p seoo.nd glass, 

- . v.K gju'iA mU \q &B-. T i twnriv- (\ a AH J»Vdh o&l _ .— - 

I should do a lot of mail tonight but think I shall 
not, I haven't opened a flock of Christmas packagmsyet and 
I shall perhaps do that by the light of my Christmas candle while 


iCBOi A ,TV l'.U& 3Tc\,90 tS-AS'&fyQ* 

Memorandumi t « 

, : .. 3roGTS r : o ■ • . - 1 

Continued clear and continued chilly, 
bss . o vi sti j ioiff 'icV- na^ao-'i -> - 

As for local news, of Parish interest, that 
on the death of Mrs. Williams, Ora's mother-in-h 
mother of Reax R, B,,~J, H,, Madam Beaufort an. 
. I can already hear tales emergtng from family 
rumpuses in the settlement of the estate, ■-Beth ; 


form much like Sister did when her mama died and the racket that wi j 
go on will be echoing endlessly, I guess R, B, and his 
brother, J, H, will be equal to Beth and her baton Rouge sister 


and probably the boys o.an win in the end but from 
today to the end of her days, Beth will be going 
atrojig on endless tales about the injustices she 
will have suffered, It was only a few weeks back Beth 
was screaming in public places in town that her brother, 
is the black sheep of the family. As J, H, ; is probably 
the executor, he will probably be getting blaoker and 
blacker in Beth's word pictures, 

v, \ oK-ufty “••• ?■ yltn'-a io\. 

On the home front, the day was sort of hurly-burly, 
Celeste was in town all day and so I had a chance to 
see Juanita a bit, —Juanita A,,, that is. 

She told me that Pat and Juanita. B, plan to 
drive ever to Houston tomorrow, and perhaps 
on dom to the Rio Orande valley, I'm not sure. They an 
taking the b a by,Taine. with them. I believe that auste i 
the trip is to see Pat s grandmother, 

Juanita A. was here thisafternoon when 
Ju&ita B, arrived, bringing the baby to sleep ■ ■ 
on the big old four poster in my boudoir, —the b a by 
looking smaller and smaller on such a big> bed,'- 

, J;. . -o!',. utiOJii 8100 ST oo 5.■ 1 . uS’ 1 * 1 

A little later, Joe and Hat came over and we all had 


than 


I indulge in a dqj> of muiscale until it s time to 
call it a day, The post Christmas mail continues comparatively 
thin for joh.ich I.am grateful since it affords me cn opportunity 
to catch up with some of the unanswered letters,,,,,,,* 

ii »roa \joia. art* gftttutlv' »o« bUoiu sW-.-'. 14 \&x i 





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From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M"3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
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1C 282 


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a pleasant hour together before supper, Pat doesn t 
relish wine, T think, but the rest of ua did a bit 
of elbow bending and conversation was gay, 

• 4(100 fc<u: "V 1 Lc buiJKi '■ 

At supper the table was gr a ced, more or less, by 10 or 
x . 12, including Dan whom I had not seen last week, I 
t believe he is Staying here at .the big house, as are Joe and 
, Juanita for another .day .or Jwo * At dinner this noon, I 

made an excuse to withdraw into the kitchen for a 
moment, my real reason for doing so was to learn the 
identity of a young man at the table whom D orea tha 
identified, as Lloyd os., ■ 

t , . >. a ««il Koiru fltA 'bua U l£iw , ■- , v 

Later during the meal^l. aS frad him how he and 
his folks had made it back home last Saturday night 
and he said everything had gone along alright, I recalled 
his papa hadn t been feeling ve.ry well and I hoped they made 
, it home fine,'- He said that they did and that Dr, Wenk is now 

alright, again, F.rom all this, I conclude, even as I had 
assumed before, that the breast-slashing episode was merely 
some tale Sister had 'trumped up for a dab of excitement, 
for surely had It anything extraordianry had ocoured, Lloyd 
, .would have mentioned it, , „ri 

t » Of theenclosures, \I think there is nothing of 
especial .interest H jsave to give p glimpse of how things 
are rolling along, L did appreciate tie obituary 
Robins pas.ae <J along * thinking you would enjoy 
glajioing throiigh ft, I do not want it back* 

V C., 8! 5 . : L • -'4 1 .TV M',\ . .Mi i t .- ■■ 

‘ihe artipt 'phoned me around 11 o'clock last 
night, saying she had ,just called the Sheriff to come and pick up 
one of McKinley Brown s boys who tr.ied unsuccessfully to 
push his way into her'house, durjng the evening. If the boy was 
half as- hjgh as the a rtist, he probably could hear sounds of 
merr.iment from within and thought joining the frolio a 
likely idea, The picture business must be pretty good, what with 
iall the parties the artist has been throwing of late, "hat 
a remarkable bag,,,,,,,. 


Thursday , Dec ember 3 1st, 1959, 


tJi » <un-wni nuort «« \ti/A \9 Hoivrqinnsiu* ie l 

Memorandum: . 

. . ... !,I 00 < a;., ', v 

Cloudy and sprinkley and warmer, 

. ■ i . ■ 

Central Texas has had heavy rains this afternoon and 
they are moving leisurely in this direction, The foreoast 
for tomorrow is rain for the Sugar Bowl, 

. J, H, and the men he drives down to Hew Orleans with 
left tonight about 6 and Eugene, with wife and child, 
leaves on the midnight train, I find it remarkable that 
manure people feel an impulse to go to so much t noonvenienoe 
to sit in a soaking rain all afternoon to see a bunch of 
mud spattered football players slosh a round a field. It 
seems to me that *ugene and family have the better arrange - - 
ments, since they will be able to go to bed and will not have to 
leave their pullman before 6 tomorrow, morning when a bus 
will take them where ever and then, following the game, a 
bus will take, them back to their pullman and get them 
back hpme somewhere between midnight and £ a,m. But 
either way sounds tiresome enough to me, especial ly in weather 
guaranteed to be unpleasant, 

.%£• , o. j; s :j ,V i, \ sjr. ’ Inn V>S>W O \LoA vUtwp 

Lloyd must have returned to Shreveport this afternoon 
as I did not see him atsupper* Joe and Juanita will 
leave tomorrow and Celeste will spend the day in town and 
so I shall be pretty much alone an ye olde plantation, I 
guess. That will be no espeoial,novelty, 1 must say, 

. 

J, H, a nd Celeste attended Mrs, Williams funeral in 
town this morning. With the Williamses kin to everybody, I 
had no doubt the Church would be wedged aut. 1 was aooordingly 
surprised when J, H, remarked that it wasn t a quarter 
occupied, This seems so strange • 

•> • .2 09T4 

At coffee this morning. Celeste told me she was at 
the hospital yesterday noon with Beth when Mrs• Williams 
died , /believe all the Williamses were there, too. Ora 
.....was present but was suffering from some sort of a nose or throat 
infection. 



MM 





From the FRANCOIS MlGNON PAPERS, #M~3889 in the Southern Historical Collection, 
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO 
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. 


< V' H 


1C283 


, t i. -.5 


A slight interruption of half an hour interrupts at 
this point, —a telephone front I, S, *illard, The 
lady has a cold whioh she caught while doing too much work 
out of doors yesterday, But , although she was quite 
g husky, I could understand her well enough, She 
had read my scolding of the President of France and waited to 
tell me of.some pretty post cards she had fx received from his 
son a while back. The latter was in Washington in 1947 
with his papa where I, S W, had quite fallen in love 
. with the youth who is about her son's age, I, believe, 

, ) o' t S>:. O • . kcJ •• \s 

Texas, Kansas and Montana were represented in passing 
pilgrims. All of them liked what they saw, I think, 
but none of them, I believe had the cultural oapacity 
to. comprehend much as to what it was all about, I 
congratulated each group of their courage to go sight-seeing 
in a driaale, They all were quiok to explain they didn't 
mind getting wet. People of this sort never seem to 
t be vastly interested as to how I like getting soaked on 
their behalf whioh always wiakes me laugh. One nice thing 
n bout pilgrims of this sort, theyhave but a dim, if any 
comprehension (»ow good some of the things they are seeing might 
be and therefor never dream what is 't shown which is usually 
about half a mere half being more than enough to please, 
liesi.’io frier. .n. - c J 'Vi-lS ovM '- id 

Uext week end ought to be-get more local visitors, 
what with the Governor having proclaimed Thursday a holiday, 
for what reason, l know not, Then Friday, the 8th is 
Battle of Hew t Orleans, a State holiday while Saturday will 
be eleotion day, —January 9th, I 

can t retail if I mentioned yesterday that Hita,Sutton called to 
t say Richard pratt had called from Hot Springs or written 

saying he and, wife wanted to pass through Uatohitoches and asked 
Hita if she oould arrange a date for me to see them, I thought 
Sunday, the 10th fine,as between E and 4 and we shall see what the 
architectural world has to report on that occasion, 
s>.‘e s. 1 • t -' •••*■: 11 'A «s>\\ i' 

The drissle continues and that will make the holiday candle 
in the picture window shine the-'brighter as telepathy travels 
toward Lyme in a flow of good wishes for the Mew Tear,,,,,,